Remnant's Visitor
by Garmadon35
Summary: Trapped outside of both time and space, all Gaster yearns for is to be home with his family, and with a way back in hand his dream may just come true. But something goes wrong and Gaster ends up falling through timelines. Now stranded in the world of Remnant, will the scientist still harbour ill will towards humanity, or will he be able to take the first steps in forgiving them?
1. Chapter 1

**Heyo, author here. This is actually my first fanfiction like this, so I'd be thankful if in the comments criticism isn't too harsh.**

**Also, since Gaster's a mysterious character, I'm basing his stats off the lore and some of his powers from things like Glitchtale.**

**Thanks, and enjoy =).**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

The void is a vast plain of emptiness, a waste land for the non-existent. Yet even in such a place of literally nothing to begin with, there can be something once it becomes recognised by a conscious being. Some would say it was bright, white all around, most would say it were black as night. But no matter how the mind interprets it, the ground is always the same.

Ankle deep liquid. It's not water, in fact it's nothing. But if someone were to give it a description, it'd be the divide between it and existence.

That's the situation W.D. Gaster found himself. After accidently falling into the core he regained consciousness just lying down in the liquids of the void. To say the falling into the core was painful would be a sugar-coating understatement.

The excruciating pain of his very molecules and existence being pulled apart by his own magic tearing into threads to be flung across all timelines was unimaginable.

It hurt, a lot.

But the momentary anguish was nothing compared to the shear loneliness of his condemned isolation.

For years he spent in that place, learning that even in a place full of nothingness, he could see the world in which he'd come from if he'd only knew where to look. By that he had to plunge head first into the liquid ground.

Down there, it was a spectacle.

It was like he was swimming through branches of infinite timelines. The moment the scientist discovered this, he was in absolute awe. But as time went on, he found he could not enter any of the continuing ones, and everyone in the Underground in all timelines had forgotten him.

His discovery of a lifetime quickly turned into his own living hell. Being alone is one thing, but to be forgotten and alone was horrendous, the despair everyone fears. If he was lucky, he'd find a couple or so people who mentioned his name, but it was only to refer to a mere boogieman.

A bad dream.

It was too much, heart wrenching. But he wouldn't let it stand, he wouldn't stay here until the end of everything just for someone to save him.

As the formerly recognised royal scientist of the underground, he didn't sit by. He worked.

Using all his knowledge, all his wits and power to find a way back. Scavenging the timelines, he found he could enter and leave those that were decaying, those that were uninhabited and had stopped progressing.

With collected materials from the timelines he managed to construct a counter part to the core in the plain of non-exitance.

An anti-core.

Much like the original, it was big to say the least, and clunky with gears turning away and a humming that sounded like a lion growling. Though as a counter part to the core, this machine absorbed magical power, compressed and dispensed it into something below it.

That something he intended to be a timeline below the liquids, and since a monsters' very being was made of magic….. well, the implications were plainly obvious.

If someone like Papyrus were to explain its function, they'd probably say it acted like a giant magic syringe.

"I'll be home soon, everyone. Please, just wait," he promised, aligning the machine so it was aimed to the timeline most similar to his own. "…If I'm right about this…re-entering a progressing timeline will restore my state of existence…. you'll all remember me~."

He faulted slightly in his preparations, but quickly pulled himself together to find his second wind.

"No. No, I'm sure you will. I may be split across all these timelines in magic, but by converging them all into one I can be brought back into existence. I _will_ be remembered."

Adding the final calculations on his point of re-entry he stood before his hopeful salvation.

"At least Sans will remember me," he sighed, still fearing that his arrival won't undo the damage the core had done to him in the first place.

Last time he checked in on them, a human had fallen into the underground. The eighth one.

He wasn't exactly thrilled about it, seeing her interact with the monsters. She even befriended his two sons at one point, so it made him happy at least.

"The eighth, to break the barrier," he said, pushing a series of buttons on a keyboard, engaging systems and firing up the machines function to absorb magic. "Funny, she looks so much like…..like little Chara."

A countdown sequence started from three and before long he could feel his magic being sucked away from him. It felt like he was an unravelling ball of yarn.

It tickled.

Trusting in himself he let the feeling envelope him. His skeletal body turned to dust and was sucked into the bowls of the anti-core like a vacuum.

Gaster was conscious for the whole thing, feeling himself collecting to a point before he was pushed out like he was in a syringe into the ground below. The insertion was like he was watching the whole world go by in a mad rush while he stood still.

Magic flying down through the universe of timelines before slamming into one below and soaking into it. Now the whole actual universe was rushing by him at lightning speeds and coming up on Earth.

Before long he was coming up on his exit point, Asgore's castle. He wondered how his king would react to seeing him, would he know who Gaster was?

No, even if he doesn't remember, the king is a kind monster, and will surely take Gaster in with open arms. 'He's a big furball after all.'

He mentally smirked at that remark.

Flying through the buildings ceiling, he came to the throne room. Suddenly his soul froze at what he saw. A nightmare made real.

It had been some time since Gaster last checked in on this timeline, but it was enough for all hell to break loose. The dust of monsters was everywhere, Sans was leaning against a wall with a slash mark across his front while he was holding onto Papyrus's red scarf.

He had that same ridiculous smile plastered on his face even as he crumbled to dust.

At this point, Gaster was materializing into the physical plain. He was hazy, much like a clump of sand slowly turning to clay and becoming solid as he rushed over to his son.

"S-Sans, what happened?" he panicked, going to lift up his shirt to inspect the damage, but found his fingers lazily pass though them. The materialization process wasn't yet at a point where he could physically interact with the timeline.

The short skeleton looked up to him with droopy eye sockets.

"Oh…. Hey G. Long-time no see~," he croaked. "I know you don't age but, but you've really gotten _dusty_ haven't you~."

"This is no time for puns, Sans," Gaster stated, still feeling his body slowly coming together at the molecular level. "Now what happened? Was it that human who came to the underground?"

"You mean Frisk?... Nah, nah she really isn't the one at fault here. She's more of a victim in this than the rest of us."

Gaster suddenly felt the space around him become static, distorted for a moment.

"Wha… No, no I've seen this before," he panicked, getting up and looking around. "This timeline is about to end."

Turning back to Sans, he frantically looked him over for a way to help. His son had lost both his legs to dust at this point. "Hey, don't fall apart on my G, that's my job."

Gaster felt his heart drop. For so long he'd wanted to return home, so that everything could be right again. But now, was he about to lose the very home he'd fought for for so long?

Kneeling to Sans, Gaster attempted to rest a hand on his sons' shoulder but passing though him. So instead he opted to hover above it.

Reality went static again for a moment.

"I'm sorry, but I have to leave you, Sans. If I don't discover what's causing this timeline to come to an end, I might end up in the same situation I was before, or worse."

"…Do what you gotta do G~," Sans sighed, grinning as the lights in his sockets died. The dusting had reached to his collarbone. "I'm _dying_ to see you in the next timeline~."

With that, Sans's body crumbled to dust completely, leaving behind only his clothes, and Papyrus's scarf. Gaster clenched his fist that'd been hanging over his son's shoulder, trying his best not to break.

"You always like your puns."

Stomping up, he used his magic to teleport into the room behind the throne room. Half expecting to find Asgore, he instead found the human child. She was dressed in her usual blue jumper with purple stripes across the middle with their back turned to him and in her hand clutched a dented kitchen knife with dry blood across the edge.

A pair of orange panels floated in front of her, one read [Erase] while the other [Reset]. Their hand was floating ominously towards [Erase].

"Don't you even think about it, Frisk," he declared, thrusting out his right hand and summoning his seven skeletal hands, using the pale blue hand of patience to shoot tendrils to entrapping her.

In lightning reflexes, and without even turning around she sliced through nearly all of them, only getting a few snaked around her knife arm.

"Now move away from that [Erase] button."

There were a few moments of silence, then the distortion Gaster kept feeling buzzed again, only this time when it was over, Frisk had changed. Instead of wearing the blue and purple jumper, she was now wearing a green jumper with yellow stripes across the middle.

She slowly turned to face him with blood red eyes and a maniacal grin on her face.

Gaster felt his heart sink again, the magic in his sockets acting as eyes widening at the sight.

"_Says who?_" she rhetorically spoke in a voice that sounded like it was being said by two people at the same time.

"…..Chara...?"

She moved in to press the button, Gaster attempted to yank back on the tendrils and coupled it with a beam fired from the red hand of determination.

Chara's hand just brushed over the [Erase] panel, turning it green then everything vanished in static before turning to darkness. The beam Gaster fired whizzed past where she'd been into the far-off distance without hitting anything and the tendrils slumped down with nothing to hold onto.

For a split moment Gaster thought he was back in the void but noticed he couldn't see any of the timelines. Aside from him, there was simply nothing, not even a ground to stand on.

The feeling of his being sent into a timeline came back again, only this time it didn't feel like the world was rushing past him, there was no world to rush through.

He was falling, falling through the doomed timeline with no apparent bottom in sight.

Panicking, he opted to use his teleportation, or summon a Gaster blaster to carry him, only to realize neither would help. He wasn't falling be gravity, there was no real way for him to stop his plummet and to use teleportation he had to know where he was.

All he could do was scream as he fell into the abyss.

He blacked out soon after.

* * *

**Later**

Coming around, Gaster felt saw all over. He creaked open an eye and was immediately met with a blinding light, forcing him to squint.

'Hold on. This can't be right,' sitting up and opening his eyes, he blinked a couple of times to make sure he knew what he was feeling.

He had opened _his_ eyes.

Looking down at his hands, one was his normal skeletal hand with the large hole in the palm while the other was….covered in flesh. Patting and massaging his face he felt skin and flesh. Even eyelids, ears and hair.

He was still in his normal attire with leather shoes, black trousers, trench coat and white turtleneck. Itching to look more into himself and see what else was different, Gaster did his best to hold off on his curiosity until he found out which of all the timelines he had fallen into.

Gazing around, he was in a forest. Not a very thick one based on how easy it was to see through, which suggested animals lived here, but not frequently traversed through. A stream flowed nearby. Stumbling over himself a little before standing by the water's edge, knelt to peer into the flowing stream.

A human face starred back, and not one of a fully grown adult either. It couldn't have been more than…. seventeen, or eighteen. Pale skin covered his face with messy frost white hair reaching down to above his neck. His eyes were their same multi coloured blue and red with deep scares above his skull fractures.

One ran down from his right eye to mouth with another stretching up from his left and disappearing into his hair.

"OH MY GOD!" he screamed, tripping back and scrambling away from the refection. He wasn't one to be easily surprised, but when you've undergone a physical change you were unaware of, that tends to put people on edge.

No, an entire _species_ change.

It wasn't easy, but he managed to soon recover himself, continuing to analyse his current surroundings. Looking more to the woods, a bit to the horizon….even his own body. Specifically his right arm, taking off his trench coat to see that his entire arm was still a skeleton. Under his shirt his body had fused with some flesh also.

It stretched from his head to the entire length of his left arm. From his neck it went down mostly the middle of his chest and spread out around the abdomen area.

If his previous studies on the human children that fell to the underground yielded anything, it was that the organs he was more than likely missing at first glance were a pair of lungs, liver, heart and some guts bellow the stomach.

Pocking the flesh, it flexed a little before springing back as he retracted his finger.

"Hmmmm….. Normally the body of a human can't live without the heart or lungs, let alone…..this much flesh. My magic is probably keeping it alive and from going into rigor mortis," he deduced, putting back on his shirt and buttoning up his trench coat. "This is probably a side affect of me falling through timelines."

A bird flew by, drawing his attention away for a moment. Then he noticed the sky, he really noticed it. Gaster couldn't help as his eyes widened and breath taken away to the vast blue sky above, clouds lazily floating by. Then the sun came out behind the clouds and blinded him again.

"Gaahh-ow. I don't think I'm in the underground anymore," he said rubbing his eyes. Then blinking for a bit while the pain subsided. "Hmph, I'd almost forgotten what the sky looked like in the outside world~."

His brief reminisce was interrupted by some rustling in the bushes nearby. Turning his attention to it a large wolf life beast slumping out on all fours, well over three times Gaster's own size. Covered in ash black fur with a pale skull covering the top part of its head with glowing eyes like burning coal as sniffed the ground, probably tracking something.

It noticed Gaster and snarled intimidatingly at him.

"Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to know where I am? I appear to be in a bit of trouble and am in need of some assistance."

The monster leaped at Gaster, swiping its claws to tear him to shreds. A green bubble enveloped Gaster and the claws cracked into the forcefield. Startled, the wolf move back, still keeping eyes on him.

"It appears you're not much of a civilised monster, now are you?" he said, seven skeletal hands floated from behind him. They each glowed a colour of a soul; purple, green, red, blue, light blue, yellow and orange. The green one was glowing brighter than the rest. "But can you at least show any sign if you can understand me or not?"

The beast did nothing as it leaped again, this time towering over Gaster as it rapidly swiped profusely at the forcefield attempting to break it.

"_Sigh._ Seams you're but a mindless animal, aren't you?" the orange hand flashed, and numerous orange ping-pong balls appeared around the wolf. It took notice and stopped attacking Gaster, glancing around in curiosity.

Clenching his fist, the balls flashed a bright orange before all exploding simultaneously, blasting the beast to smithereens.

When the dust settled, its mangled corpse lay on the ground, large gouging holes and pits across its body with once burning eyes dead.

Letting the barrier down, Gaster strode over to it with his hands still hovering about him. He was sure it was dead, but one could never be too careful.

"Now let's see, what kind of monster are you…..?"

Before he could finish the wolf was starting to evaporate, grumbling away with ash like flakes rising off it. Before to long it was gone without a trace, even its bones.

"Seems like all monsters here die just the same."

More rustling from the bushes behind drew his attention to a whole pack of the same type of beast he'd just killed. All snarling, sniffing the ground and looking just as mindless.

"Its pack?" he queried aloud, turning to where he'd just killed the previous wolf before turning back. "Guess you're not as mindless as I thought. You've all leaned to have scouts."

* * *

**Later**

It'd been nearly an hour since Gaster found himself in the woods, and aside from the pack of wolf beasts he hadn't run into anything else.

No other monsters or any sign of a civilization. He considered teleporting around the place, but that would've been insufficient and draining on his magic reserves. Fortunately his magic was replenishing at a steady rate, but with the extra lumps of flesh for his own magic to sustain it wasn't as fast as it used to be.

Sure he could tear it off, lose the excess baggage and have all his magic to spare, but there was also a risk to it. The way things were now, he was on the surface. The same surface humans ruled after casting all the monsters down into the underground after the war.

Well, not all of them apparently.

If he were to be caught while walking around with his skeletal features exposed there was no telling what trouble he'd get himself into with the natives.

No, best to leave the flesh on. No matter how nauseating it made him feel at times.

'Okay, time to think. Clearly something happened that caused the previous timeline I was in to end, and Chara was some how connected to it. Even though it should be impossible since she's dead and has been for so many years. Unless there's something about human souls that would make them able to inhabit other beings after they die, or maybe I missed something when I wasn't looking at that particular timeline…..'

Stopping for a moment, Gaster summoned a gaster blaster in front of him. A dragon looking skull towering over the scientist with giant twisted goat horns at the back of its head and vicious teeth lining the mouth, some longer than his arm.

'Either way, I can't get answers by just thinking about it. One step at a time, and the first thing to do is get an understanding of where I am.'

Gripping its eye socket for leverage, he hoisted himself up and climbed up to the middle of the forehead.

Things were moving too slowly, and he needed a ride. His own blaster wouldn't normally be his first choice of transport, but he'd seen Sans ride his own at times so how hard could it be?

He quickly found that out. While the blaster was moving through the air, Gaster had to crouch on the forehead while gripping the dragon skull's horns for stability or else he'd fall right off.

How did Sans even stand on his without slipping?

Soaring high into the sky, the breeze felt pleasing to him. It was cold, not like the feeling in Snowdin or a refrigerator, but that of a morning welcome from a time he had long since missed through decades in the underground. Gaster couldn't help but indulge himself in it.

The vast landscape stretched out before him of nothing but green forest as far as the eye could see. Before long he spotted a high-rising castle in the distance.

'Well, a better place to start than any,' he thought, teleporting with the blaster to above the grounds, flying low until just above the ground before hopping off and letting the skull dissipate.

For a brief moment he found himself in awe. The sight of a castle rising far beyond the ceilings of the underground and kept on going to where the peak of the tallest tower broke into the clouds wasn't something he saw often. He probably could've from the void but with so many timelines he was never concerned about those that didn't include the underground.

After collecting himself and moving on, he began his search for literally anyone he could hold a conversation with in the castle. It was surprisingly empty despite its grand scale.

Walking through the courtyard, it reminded him a little of royalty what with the fountain in the middle and large stone pillar supports holding up a stone ring encircling the entirety of the grounds.

The place was empty, yes, but Gaster couldn't help but feel as though it's normally bustling.

Time passed and Gaster found himself in a long corridor with large arching windows on one side and doors lined on the other. He took a peak in one of them and it looked much like a small lecture hall.

"Is this….. some kind of school-?"

"Excuse me," someone sternly called from behind. "But what do you think you are doing here? Students aren't to be here until next week."

Turning around, Gaster came face-to-face with a human.

With a crop in hand, she appeared to be in her mid-20's with blonde hair tied mostly in a braid at the back of her head with a curl hanging down the right of her face and sharp green eyes starring behind oval glasses. She wore a thigh high skirt with stockings and a white long-sleeved t-shirt with a short purple cape draped over her shoulders.

He shoved his right hand into his pocket before she could see. He didn't know if things were the same here as it was before monster were sealed, but concealing the fact he was a monster in front of a human would be best for the moment.

'At least she speaks English.'

"Apologies, I don't mean to be roaming the halls of this castle, but I'm afraid I'm somewhat lost. Do you think you could tell me where I might be?" he queried.

She visually looked confused for a moment.

"If you're trying to lie, you might as well come up with a better one," she accused, tightening her grip on the crop.

"Perish the thought. If I intended to lie, you're right, I would come up with a better story. But as I have nothing to gain through deceit I have no reason."

There was silence between the two, the human keeping a straight expression before replying. "You're in the hallways of Beacon academy. One of the global huntsmen academy's."

"An academy?" pondering, Gaster tried to remember how Frisk first fell into the underground. If he was right, it was by accident after hiking up a mountain. He didn't know where the human fell exactly, but it was a start.

'What was its name?'

Gaster tapped his leg from the inside of his pocket until stopping. "Is it anywhere close to mountain Ebott?"

The human furrowed her brow.

"No. We are nowhere near a 'mount Ebott'."

"Hmm. Okay then, do you know where I can find it?"

"Sorry to say, but you won't find a mount Ebott," they all turned to the shadows behind her. Out walked a man dressed in a green suit with greyish-white hair and brown eyes behind dark spectacles. He wasn't gandpa-ish old, but he walked with a cane in hand that was half mechanical at the top and holding a mug of coffee in the other. "Believe me, I should know."

"Professor Ozpin," Glynda addressed as the man now named Ozpin came to stand next to her before taking a sip from his mug and looking Gaster over.

Gaster could tell the human was judging him. At this point he had half a mind to just leave, but as a former royal scientist, he was determined to get as much information as he could here. A decision would have to made later.

"What do you mean there isn't one?"

"I mean there isn't one. I've been around this world for a long time and I have learnt a lot of terrain names. There is no mountain Ebott," he repeated, a smile etching onto his face before walking closer and stopping before Gaster. "Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon academy."

Passing his mug to his left, Ozpin held out his hand at the introduction. Gaster was little hesitant.

"Wing Ding Gaster," he replied, stretching out his left flesh hand opposed to Ozpins right. "Pleasure."

Ozpin was for a moment looking down at the outstretched hand confused before his demeanour returned to its calm, retracting his right hand, passing the mug and cane over to it before shaking.

"Yes, and might I add you did an interesting drop into our courtyard. Your semblance is something of interest to summon the skull of a beast."

"Semblance?"

"Yes. Though if you're wanting to scope out the campus grounds I'd recommend you do it during your first day."

* * *

**Later**

After a somewhat lengthy and informative conversation with the humans, Gaster realized that Ozpin had really assumed the skeleton was an enrolled student at his academy. That little misunderstanding was quickly rectified, though not before Gaster could learn as much as he could.

Though he had to be careful with what he asked. Too many questions on things that are common knowledge would be suspicious. The rest he'd have to find through other means more discrete, and there were a lot of things that interested him to say the least. For starters, the topic of semblance.

For the most part, semblance was the manifestation of the soul granting its user protection, healing and a natural ability unique to them. For Glynda, the deputy headmaster of the academy, it was telekinesis.

The use of soul energy wasn't something new to Gaster. It was one of his appointed jobs as the royal scientist to break the barrier to the underground by harnessing human souls through the combination of a monsters'.

Though it was new to see humans managing to wield their own souls like that. Something that beared further investigation on his part. But they weren't the only intelligent beings on the planet who could use it.

A race called the faunus existed in the world, a cross between humans and animals. It was somewhat humbling for Gaster to know there were people somewhat close to monsters living on the surface. Though it was for that reason that they were discriminated against be the humans.

He also learnt that the monsters he fought earlier were a beast called grimm. Apparently they've been this planets biggest threat right next to humans and faunus since the beginning of history. Case in point, the academy was to act as a training ground for people who'd fight the grimm and save lives.

It impressed him to say the least, but the thing that shocked him were all the irrefutable facts.

The history books of this world had no other reference to monsters aside from the grimm. Either they were kept as a secret from the world, or they genuinely didn't exist. Even magic was nothing more than a myth.

He'd fallen into an unknown timeline, one with no magic, no monsters (of his version) and no underground. Built on a foundation of conflict, blood-shed and a resource they refer to as dust, the humans and faunus were the current sentient inhabitants of the world.

After coming to terms with it all, Gaster's non-existent heart almost caved in on itself in shock. It worked, he'd succeeded inserting himself back into existence as a singular being, but now he was in a random timeline amongst the jumbled branches of the infinite timelines in the void.

Now he was further away from home, so far away in fact he couldn't even see the underground.

To be in a world completely alien to him and ruled mostly by humans, it was a struggle to not lash out at the two before him in pure irrational fury.

After some thinking, Gaster came to the decision that the best way for him to get home wasn't to traverse through the seas of infinite timelines from within them, but to….. return to the void.

Though was the chance the anti-core might not even be there when he returns. It was made up of parts from decaying timelines, so it would make sense that it too was decaying. But having built it once, he can do it again. Even if that meant tearing himself apart again to return, so long as he could return home, he didn't care what pain he had to go through.

There were a few problems though. To recreate his core, he'd need access to recourses, funds and the planets molten core. Then again, he didn't need the cores power to produce magic, just the existence shredding insides.

He'd have to improvise.

First and foremost though, in this world, Gaster needed some place to set up asked Ozpin if there was a place in a nearby city for him to lay low in, he was a little more than shocked to hear the human offering him a place at the academy

It was tempting, but Gaster had to decline.

It wasn't because he didn't see any merit in it, quite the contrary. This academy functioned as a huntsman training institution. A semblance training institution.

If he wanted to study how the human souls of this world functioned in contrast to his own, what better place to do it than at an academy that trained humans to use it? On top of that it could serve as his base of operations.

No. He just didn't have the finances to attend. Quite a gaping hole really.

"Finances? Oh, that's easy to resolve, young man," Ozpin had responded to Gasters reasoning with a smile. The scientist cringed at the term 'young man'. He did have the body of a human child, but he was far older than any normal human. "You can apply for a scholarship. It will handle your education and living expenses. You just have to prove your worth in a test."

Gaster was taken back by this.

'Could it really be that easy?' he thought to himself.

Again, the answer came like a flat brick.

Two days later, during his sign-up for the scholarship, Gaster had to give a brief background about himself, training and semblance.

He doubted 'former monster royal head scientist of another timeline' would be the least bit believable for a background. Luckily for him he had hit up on a few old books during his free time and learnt that there were settlements outside the city of Vale he was currently in that fell to the grimm with no official survivors.

'No official survivors means no official conflictions, and I'll just say I was raised by a kind family in the woods who were….. properly equipped to handle themselves,' he agreed, scribbling on the lines. 'I can research more into it later.'

It was a flawed background, but the best one he could come up with that people wouldn't immediately call him out on. As for his semblance…..

'Most semblances have only one aspect to them, one action. Say if someone had the power to turn invisible, that more than likely doesn't mean they can use the fundamental basis of turning invisible and refract whatever light they wanted. So if I were to pin down mine….skeleton hand summoning. I'll change it later if I have to.'

Pretty soon, the scientist found himself in a huge room with multiple arenas lined throughout.

"Okay Gaster, this is your final test," an examinee declared standing at the other end the octagonal ring. "To pass, you just need to either push me out of the ring or reduce my aura to below 15%. Understand?"

He nodded at her declaration, still keeping his right hand in his pocket. This was becoming a hinderance for him. Gaster was right-handed, and to be forced to use only his left in public had developed more than a few hardships for him.

None the less, he will keep it hidden.

A horn sounded for the match to begin and the huntress charged at Gaster with her polar-arm pulled back to deal a blow. Gaster summoned his light blue hand of patience and let it hover behind him.

Just as the examinee swung their weapon at him, Gaster teleported behind her letting them swing in empty space. The hand still being where it was left shot out light-blue tendrils that wrapped around the examinee's body.

She was taken back for a moment but managed to brace herself as the hand pulled on her only to be struck with blast to the back. The extra force coupled with the pulling hand through her right out of bounds.

As she sat up, Gaster had a red skeleton hand next to him. Both patience and determination quickly disappeared.

"That was pretty sneaky," she commented, getting back up and turning to Gaster with an annoyed look on her face. "Would it have hurt if you at least showed a little more fighting potential."

"If you wanted me to fight a little harder than just follow the itinerary, then you've should've said so _in_ the itinerary."

She sighed a little at his words. He was right, but when it comes to matches and they end this quickly, there's just no real way to evaluate if someone is really capable of handling themselves in things like drawn out battles. "Well, I guess tricks in battle are what catch the enemies off guard. Congratulations, you pass."

Gaster felt a satisfied feeling rise within his soul. It's always pleasurable to have success in his line of work.

Though he couldn't say much for the person in the next ring over.

A blonde human boy in jeans, white armour, wielding a sword and shield. Gaster had seen his fair share of fights and Undyne's hardcore training drills, and even he could tell the human was sloppy. Swinging his sword with more effort than what would normally be needed, he was missing most of the time and blocking with his shield jarred his arm a little.

'It'd be a miracle if he passed,' Gaster thought as he was led out of the training room.

Though if he stayed for ten more seconds, he would've seen the boy attempt a charge only to trip over himself at the last possible minute and catch the examinee off guard. Barrelling into him and shoving the examinee out of bounds.

* * *

**Interlude**

Back at Beacon, in the tallest tower was where the headmaster's office was. Cranking with gears on the walls, the ceiling and in the floor, it looked more like something from the inside of a great grandfather clock than an office. As the vast landscape of the Emerald forest stretched out below him, Ozpin stood by the window looking out with his usual cup of coffee in one hand and cane in the other.

"I wonder if Qrow's doing alright. It's been a while since he last contacted any of us," he hummed as the elevator behind him pinged before sliding open.

He didn't even turn around to the sound of high-heels marching in. It was practically a traditional sign at this point, signifying an angry vice principal wanted to say something.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Accept him into the school so casually and support his enrolment?" Glynda repeated irritated. "For all we know he could be a complete novice in battle, or worse."

"Relax, Glynda," Ozpin responded calmly, turning from the window behind his desk to her. "I don't know if he is or isn't a threat. But I do know he found his way here after killing a grimm."

Glynda was a little perplexed by that statement as he strolled over to his desk before taping a few buttons on it. In a moment a holographic video was pulled up showing a part of the emerald forest with a river passing through.

As the video played on, Gaster came out from behind a tree and knelt beside looking into it. Possibly to look at his own reflection. Suddenly he screamed, scampering back and making Glynda jump.

Then she noticed his arm, _his_ right arm.

"Ozpin, his-his arm is-."

"Just keep watching," he cut in.

She was still in a bit of shock at seeing the skeleton hand, turning back to watch the rest of the video. But it just got worse, Gaster took off his shirt, and what she expected to be normal was one with fleshless sections and revealing bones. Mostly in places where vital organs should've been.

Throughout this, Gaster was calm, as though he was expecting something like this and yet was more concerned by the existence of his flesh. Pretty soon a grimm broke through and attacked him.

There was a brief moment where Gaster was encased in a green bubble with the grimm attacking it until the whole area around it was filled with orange balls no bigger than ping-pongs. There was a flash and they all exploded, cutting out the video and ending it in static.

"As you can see, there is a side of him that he doesn't want shared, and it doesn't look like Gasters' affiliated with Salem. At least not on her good side," Ozpin addressed, turning off the screen. "That's why I asked him to enrol here. Not only to help win against her, but to also understand why someone like him is in that condition and yet isn't dead."

"So he kills a grimm, shows he was missing flesh and you instantly assume it's alright to enrol him into the academy? That sounds pretty irresponsible."

"Glynda, I may not do everything with a proper explanation, but just know that I do it with a reason, and believe me I have a reason for inviting that boy into the academy."

"Shouldn't you at least ask him about everything else? If we confront him with this new information, he might just talk more openly to us."

"It isn't the right time for that."

"Isn't the right time?"

"If we confront him about this while he's in a position to just simply move on, he might just do that. You may see this as irresponsible, to allow someone who just appeared in the Emerald forest into our academy, and in a sense you're right. But I see a move. A step forward."

"You haven't been drinking again, have you Ozpin?"

"Oh no, no, no, it's been well over three-hundred years since I finished that phase, I have no intention on going back," Ozpin chuckled as Glynda kept looking at him concerned. "But if you want a clearer explanation, then just know I'm looking to grasp every opportunity I'm presented with."

"Even if it might hurt you in the end?"

"Then that's a risk I'm willing to take."

* * *

**Next day**

"What interesting technology," Gaster mused, holding the small grey card in his hands and flipping it over and over. "A piece of plastic which can access an account through a digital data base. It's a lot like my key cards, only with more information. Definitely makes it easier to keep track money."

It'd been only a day but Gasters credentials had been processed and approved. He assumed there was bound to be some issues with his backstory, but oddly enough they were all approved. Gaster didn't know if it's because his story was that believable for them, the people in charge were that neglectful, or there're might even be someone backing him up.

Concerning as that latter was, further investigation would have to be carried out another time. as for now, shopping.

For the past few days, Gaster had been staying at one of the dorms in Beacon leant to him by Ozpin. Food included. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that he was Asgores' human form in this timeline with all his kindness. Now all he needed was a Toriel to go with it.

Or maybe he already had one…

But until he got his card, he'd spent most of his time in the library reading the rest of this world's history. He also found out that his new body had flesh in the groin area and right leg. The rest was all bone.

"Now let's see…..first, I think I'll go for some clothes first…..," looking up to see store ahead with a clothes hanger on its sign. "I need to get a fresh change and a glove as soon as possible."

After purchasing some more trousers, long sleeved shirts and white cotton gloves, he sought to explore more of his surroundings. Though he spent so long shopping for the right effects that he'd lost track of time. The day now had gone and replaced by the night sky with the shattered shining moon.

This sight, he just couldn't get enough of it. The glimmering stars of the real night sky was like a soothing melody for his anguished heart. The people of the underground, how much he wished he could share this sight with all the monsters.

Carrying his bagged purchases in one hand, he looked to the white glove he'd gotten for his right. With his attire he looked like a musical conductor.

Musing at the idea of him conducting a band he flexed his fingers and weaved his hand through the air back and forth as though conducting an orchestra. Playing a tune in his head he'd heard from one of the infinite timelines in the void.

"Bada-ba-baaah-bah-baaaaaah-bada~. Buda-baahh-bah~. Buda-badaaa~. Bada-budaahh~."

He sung the tune for a bit until looking into the windows of a store across the street. It had a view to inside the shop were upon shelves, upon shelves were stacked with vials and packets of different coloured powders.

He recognised them as the dust from texts he'd read. A new material, something he just had to explore.

Stopping his melody, he teleported across the road to the front of the store, passing through the glass door and ringing a bell as it opened.

"Welcome," an elderly man with grey hair greeted behind the counter.

Gaster gave a nod with a smile before moving to browse. There was just so much in stock, a wide variety of colours before him. There was some for fire arms, power, perfume and even cooking.

Already he could see Papyrus going crazy with mixing the dust as ingredients into his spaghetti dishes and turning them into fun messes. As skeletons, neither he, Gaster nor Sans could give their verdicts on the taste, that fun little job went to anyone who was brave enough to try.

Or unfortunate to be passing by the house.

"…._Hmmmm-uhmm-hmmm. Hmmmuhm-humm-uh-umm-um-um-um_~," some humming nearby pulled him away from his browsing, over in the corner of the shop in the magazine section was a young girl with a red hood in a black dress and her back turned to him.

She was humming along to some music playing from what he assumed were headphones given how muffled and static it sounded.

He cringed slightly at the sight of her. He knew she wasn't the one who broke the timeline, but he still wasn't ready to like human children just yet.

Sighing, he turned back to his browsing. If he could hear the girl's music playing from all the way over here, then chances were she'd have hearing difficulties in the future. Not his problem.

"Teenagers…."

As time passed, Gaster was intrigued to find what varieties of dust this store had to offer. Even gravity was really a dust attribute, how does that even work? Does natural gravity dust create temporary gravity fluxes? If so, how is it formed? Could it be made artificially?

With questions racing through his mind, Gaster barely heard the store bell ring but was pulled out at hearing someone exaggeratingly asking how hard it was to find a dust store open so late. Tuning out of their conversation he read the label on the back of a dust packet.

'Warning; do not consume. Doing so may lead to; vomit, indigestion, internal irritation, combustion-combustion?!'

Flipping the packet over he read the label.

[Fire dust].

"Well that explains it," he mused, deciding to purchase it. "I wonder what would happen if I fed a rabbit this? _Heh, _I'd make them explode just by thinking about it….. and feeding them. Speaking of, I'll need a rabbit."

There was the sound a sword swiftly unsheathing. "Kid, hands where I can see 'em."

Turning next to him he came face-to-face with a man dressed in a black hat, suit, sunglasses and a red tie. In hand he held a red bladed sword at Gaster.

Looking around the store there were three other men dressed in the same attire. Another one stood in front of the counter in a white suit, black cloves, baller hat and smoking a cigar with orange hair reaching down covering his right eye.

Gaster recognized him as Roman Torchwick from the news, a criminal who's been robbing dust shops recently. A grin on his face as the black suits were ransacking the dust off the shelves.

"Is this a robbery by chance?" he rhetorically queried, placing the dust packet back on the shelf.

The man looked a little confused before going back to his threatening facade. "Yea, so turn out you pockets and hand over all the dust you have."

"If you're after dust, I'm sorry to say but I don't have any."

Turning around, Gaster began walking away to the next shelf of dust but was blocked as the man rounded him, still holding his sword aloft. "I said; hand over everything you have-."

"Bwa-AHH!"

_Crash._

Both their attentions snapped to one of the men flying across the room and slamming into a rack of empty bottles. Glancing from where he'd come from, Gaster noticed the hooded girl was standing in a thrown position, as if she was the one responsible.

Another marched up to her before holding her at gun point. It was fast, too fast. In a blur they both went flying across the store, smashed through the window before the girl skidded on the guy like he was a surf board on the pavement.

A she stood up her hood fell down to reveal her to be no more than fifteen with silver eyes and hair cut just under the top of her neck ending in red tips.

"I could do what you said," Gaster began, drawing the attention of his robber and picking up a packet of yellow dust. "But I think you have more pressing problems than that~."

He grunted in annoyance before lowering his sword and rushing to the others who were looking outside as the girl pulled out a large red cartridge that extended out and unfolded into an oversized scythe.

"The toys kids get in this world are weird," Gaster mused to himself, pulling up to the counter and taking out his pay card. The cashier in front of him was more than slightly unnerved. "I'd like to buy this one plea-."

Both the card and dust before him were snatched from his hands before he could finish. "I'll take that."

Gaster had completely forgotten but Roman was still by the counter, smoking his cigar with a grin on his face. It's not that he was completely negligent, he just didn't care for the crook's existence.

"Next time, kid, watch who your standing next to."

Pocketing them both he ran out the door where the girl was severally kicking the henchmen's collective asses.

"You did _not_ just steal my allowance," Gaster declared, teleporting from the counter to outside in front of Roman, catching him off guard.

"What the-? But you were just inside."

"Give back my card and dust," he demanded walking up to the Roman, letting out some killing intent.

Surprisingly, Romans' expression went from confused to calm again. Gaster didn't even notice Roman pull up his cane at waist level before a highly condensed flare fired out at him. The explosion blasted him away like a ragdoll and barrelling into the girl in red. As he sprawled on the ground a searing pain burned on his chest. It was like he had an accident in his laboratory and spilt some acid on himself.

"-GAaaahhhh!" turning onto his back and gripping his chest, Gaster saw that a part of the front of his coat had been burnt away along with his jumper underneath to revel his singed human flesh along with a few of his ribs. "_I should've been more careful…"_

"Oh my god, are you okay? Are you okay?" the human girl came into Gasters view with a panicked expression. He quickly covered what ribs were showing and tried to sit up. She panicked and tried to help by helping him sit up as the bones in his spine clicked a few times. "W-we need to get you to a hospital-."

She was cut off as Gaster shrugged her away before glancing down the road where Roman was making his get away up the side of a building fire escape. With Gasters' only form of finance. He was alone and the henchmen he was with were laid unconscious on the road side.

"Can't let him get away," he grunted as she watched Roman get near and near to the top.

"Don't worry, I'll stop him," she declared in a stereotypical hero pose. "And the names Ruby."

She turned around back to Gaster, but he wasn't there anymore. After quickly glancing around she wailed a little at not finding him and made a bolt for the building, bursting into rose petasl and speeding across the road, up the side of the building before landing on the roof.

"Well I've got to say, you kids are kids full of surprises aren't you?"

As Ruby looked up to see Roman standing before her, she was surprised to see the guy who lied hurt on the side of the road not but a few moments ago standing opposite the criminal with seven skeleton hands floating around him. Each one glowed different colours in singular large holes in their palms as he looked to be fighting through the pain lingering from his burnt chest.

"Give it up, Roman," she called, pulling back crescent rose to be ready to strike.

"Sorry, red. Not on the itinerary tonight," Roman flipped his cane around and fired a shot at Ruby.

She leaped to the side, avoiding the blast as it hit the edge of the roof. Gaster took the initiative, summoning a pair of blue energy rings from the hand of integrity and hurling them straight at Roman.

He noticed, dodged one and parred the second with his cane which turned out to be sturdier than it looked, but scuff marks were left behind on the tool. Ruby leaped from behind, cleaving with the flat of her scythe which Roman blocked again with his cane before wielding it like a sword and striking back at Ruby who parried by spinning her scythe like a turbine.

'This world is even more dangerous than I thought,' Gaster mused, arching the rings through the so they were now heading back to Roman. "I'll need to step up my game."

Bring forward justice he fired a hail of yellow energy bullets followed by a shot from determination. They flowed in a two-way strike with the energy rings whizzing through the air. Roman noticed side stepped one of Ruby's attacks and putting her in the line of fire. Gaster didn't have time to change their trajectory, but Ruby managed weave away as the beam and bullets crashed through the opposite building with the rings slamming into the roof and dissipating, leaving deep impact grooves.

Gaster readied to use justice, integrity and kindness, but was caught of guard by the sudden blurring of engines as an airship came up from the side of the building. Roman was standing on the ledge right by the vehicle.

"Sorry kids, but this is the end of the line!" he yelled above the wiring of the engines, pulling out the energy dust packet he'd swiped from Gaster and tossing it to their feet's.

They were both a little confused until Roman, having leaped into the cargo hold of the airship shot another flare at them, this time aimed for the dust. Gaster remembered what the packet in the store said about the red dust.

He quickly encased himself in his barrier of kindness before the flare crashed into the crystal, igniting it and causing the equivalent of a small power plant going haywire. Lightning erupted into a miniature storm, striking everywhere around including the barrier hard and for the brief moment blinding him from the light show.

When it returned, the roof at his feet had been burnt with lightning streaks, but what drew his attention was that a purple floating pentagram was now hovering in the air next to him. Behind it was Ruby who was recovering from bracing herself while Glynda stood before her holding up her signature crop to maintaining the purple shield.

Maybe Gaster should've helped protect Ruby a little, but how did Glynda even get here?

Brining the barrier down, Glynda pushed up her glasses and went on the offensive, lashing out with an array of purple energy bolts on the air ship. Thinking this was the best time to study her semblance Gaster dissipated his hands and watched next to Ruby who held onto her oversized scythe like it was some kind teddy bear.

Glynda put on quite the display for them both, lashing out her crop like it was a wand and summoning a storm of hailing crystals that battered the airship. Roman disappeared into the cockpit and someone who's facial features were covered by the shadows took his place.

Dawning a red dress her arms glowed golden flames before fire burnt from her hands and a fireball was hurled at them. Glynda deflected it with another barrier but some stray fire liquified and splattered onto the roof, burning where it touched.

Seeing this Gaster summoned his hands again just in case things got a little out of hand.

Runes suddenly appeared by Glyndas feet. Jumping away they exploded like landmines and the debris floated in mid-air, turning purple before spiralling in the air and forming into an oversized spike spear.

The spear launched at the airship where it was met with bursts of fire blasts until it was broken down to half its original size where it split into multiple smaller spears. Snacking through the air they moved to impale the ship from multiple angles before a burst of fire from the girl shattered and incinerated them all.

As the glowing ashes rained from the sky, Ruby saw a break in the battle and whipped her scythe around so the head was aiming at the ship before letting out a barrage of rifle shots from the weapon.

Seeing as semblances weren't in use any more, Gaster momentarily lost a little interest in the display before him and remembered why he'd come here in the first place. The dust and card Roman had swiped from him.

Feeling a sudden sense of dread, he glanced down to where the Roman had ignited the dust packet. Well it was certainly a waist of prime research materials, but Roman still had his card. Readying his hands, Gaster teleported from the roof to the cockpit of the airship where Roman was trying to steer with one of Glynda's large crystals embedded into the head rest.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Roman exaggeratedly wailed as Gaster went searching though his suit pockets. "Hey, hey, hands off the merch. A little help here!"

In no time Gaster found his card, pocketing it back into his own trench coat just in time to see the girl whose face had been covered by the shadow of the ship now revealed pulling back on a dark glass made bow and arrow. He teleported back to the roof just in time as the arrow flew and shattered out through the cockpit wind shield.

He wasn't gone that long, but already the roof had been decimated even further with more bits of debris piled around. Turning back to the ship, the cargo door closed shut just as the whole thing banked before rocketing away with blaring jet engines.

It wasn't much of a win, hell Gaster knew that his whole involvement in this little mess was down right because of his negligence for a crook right next to him, but he felt satisfied at the victory.

He'd secured his income, got a little more of a taste for the type of combat this world goes through and got himself a front row seat for a human's semblance in action. Not a bad starting spot for him in his line of work all things considered.

"Oh, wowww~, you're a huntress," some high-pitched fan girl squealing pulled his attention back to Glynda and Ruby, the latter looking at the former with literally sparkling wonder in her eyes. "Can I have you autograph~?"

Glynda had her stern expression on her face with disappointment mixed in while looking down at her before turning to Gaster.

"Hello Gaster."

He felt a little tinge of displeasure in her greeting.

"Evening Glynda."

* * *

**Later**

Ruby sat in a dimly lit room with a small table in front of her with an empty chair on the other side and a single light hanging over head. A text book page interrogation room for sure. Slowly pacing behind the chair opposite her, Glynda Goodwitch was looking at a tablet with graphs and a series of information documents.

After the little failed attempt at stopping Roman Torchwich, things hadn't really been feeling all that great for her.

"I hope you realize the dangers you put yourself in, young lady," she scolded, looking up with a stern look. "If things had gone wrong, you could've lost your life, maybe even killed."

"But they started it-."

"That does not excuse you. After all, because of you someone _else_ got seriously injured."

"I-I didn't mean too. Is he…?"

"_Sigh, _he'll be alright. We tried to get Wing Ding to a medical centre for a check-up, but he won't get anywhere near the place. He might have the energy to avoid doctors, but after you he's next."

"But I had to help stop them-."

"And help you did. So count yourself lucky that if it were up to me, I'd send you home with a simple pat on the back," Ruby's spirits lifted somewhat. "-and a slap on the wrist."

Glynda struck her crop onto the table, making Ruby whimper back as it made a cracking sound.

"But~, luckily for you there's someone here to see you," Glynda stepped aside and Ozpin in his green suit stepped through the door behind, holding a plate of cookies in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other.

Ruby immediately recognised him, after all he was the headmaster of one of the four huntsman academy's worldwide.

"Ruby Rose. You have…silver eyes."

She sniffled a little in confusion, still getting over the whole being lectured at and still getting a stern look from the deputy headmistress. Ozpin set the plate down before her while taking the open chair.

Ruby eyed the chocolate biscuits on the plate before extending a hand and snatching one of them before shoving it into her mouth whole. A sense of comfort wafted over her as she indulged in the crumbling texture of the baked good before shovelling in a few more in.

"Impressive skill with a scythe," Ozpin stated, gesturing to the tablet Glynda was now holding up, playing a video of her fight with the four henchmen outside the dust shop from a security camera before Gaster slammed into her. The video rewound and played again on a loop. "I do believe I've only seen such skill with such a dangerous weapon by only one other person. A dusty old crow."

"Ah, that's my uncle, Qrow," she perked up, feeling a little refreshed after vacuuming the plate of biscuits and the mention of her uncle. "He's a teacher at signal. He trained me. I was complete garbage before he took me in, and now I'm all like, _watcha_-ha-kyaha."

As Ruby started karate chopped the air, Ozpin took another sip from his mug.

"So I've noticed," Ozpin nodded. "I take it then that, as a student of signal, you wish to become a huntress?"

"Yea. I only have two more years of training then I'm going to apply to Beacon. You see my sisters already going there this year and she's trying to become a huntress. I-I'm trying to become a huntress because I want to help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, 'ehhh, might as well make a career out of it'. Eha, I mean huntsmen and huntress arejustsomuchmoreromanticandcoolandexcitingand- dyhahaha~, you know?"

As Ruby looked at the two with excitement, Glynda had gone from stern to slightly baffled at Ruby's little rant. Ozpin on the other hand had the same expression as before. Calm and with a simple smile.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

"Your professor Ozpin. The headmaster at Beacon."

"…"

"…."

"Hello."

"Nice to meet you."

"You want to come to my school?"

"More than anything."

Ozpin gave a brief glance up to Glynda who rolled her eyes in response. "Hmph, well okay."

Getting up and outstretching his hand, Ruby enthusiastically took it and the two shook.

"Welcome to Beacon, as the headmaster, I can bend the rules a little to accept you a little early."

"…Wha…..?"

Ruby just then realized what he meant by that. Of all the freshman students this year at the academy, she was going to be a literal child amongst them!

Totally worth it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Hello everyone and happy Halloween to all those who live in the same time zone as me. **

**I've read the reviews and hope this chapter can fulfil a number of the critics, hope you enjoy.**

Gaster sat behind his desk in his temporary dorm room, flipping through the numerous notes he'd made over the past week on aura, semblances and dust. Truthfully, he didn't have enough, and the whole thing was giving him a headache.

Hadn't had one of those in while. But headaches to a scientist was proof of their minds working effectively.

That, or they've just got a migraine, and since Gaster had gained flesh he probably had a physical brain now, so migraines were always a possibility. He was itching to find the answer to that out, but with a lack of sufficient materials he wasn't willing to crack his head open to do it.

Moving to other matters, ever since the night of the robbery the other week, there'd been next to zero instances where he could freely study semblances. There were kingdoms like Atlas that were actively researching it, but their findings weren't exactly made public, and going over to the kingdom itself without proper preparations was too far to irrational for him.

Still, he needed to gather as much information on how this worlds law of souls may differ from his own and robbing high tech facilities was neither his speciality nor something he enjoyed. Gaster much preferred to work in them.

So to make up for it, the good doctor studied the reactions of various dust types he could get his hands on. Although he didn't have the current finances to procure as much as he wanted, his findings were incredible.

At the moment, he only had three different types; fire, electricity and gravity for now, but he was determined to get more.

The dust reacts in a similar manner to gunpowder. If hit with a great enough force or ignited, like hitting it against a rock, shooting it with a bullet or sending a surge of electricity through it, a chain reaction will follow.

Fire explodes like gasoline, gravity creates a momentary pushing force, and just like the night of the robbery, lighting dust becomes its own little thunderstorm. Forget using this planet's molten magma, this dust would be a far more time saving and efficient power source. The only problem was deciding which dust would serve as a proper replacement.

The original core mostly converted thermal energy to magic power. Skip one step and the best candidate would be either electricity or fire dust.

He couldn't cut out the other dusts, but until he had the sufficient means to experiment he had to move forward with the construction of the new core.

Limited by the resources of his new….circumstances, Gaster had come to make do with what he had. If that didn't work out, he'd probably have to consider more immediate means.

"But I still need research on the fluctuations of the various types of souls and their abilities~," he sighed, setting down the sheets in hand and leaning back into his chair before looking up to the greyish-white ceiling. "In the end, they might be the means by which I can go home~."

Maybe when he returns home, he can use his new research to break the barrier with only half the souls they already had. If killing Frisk, or Chara, doesn't give one the power to break the barrier with the other six souls, then at the very least he could increase their power ten-fold to do so.

Maybe then everyone in the underground can see the sky as well.

A looming shadow blanketed the room. Looking out the window, a massive airship sailed by with two wings on either side harmoniously beating up and down in tangent to one another.

"Is that….. Hmph~, it's about time the kids showed," Gaster mused, getting up and snatching his trench coat off the nearby coat hanger, slipping a glove onto his right hand before picking up a night blue notebook and pen. "I was getting board of just theorizing anyway."

Not bothering to use the corridors, Gaster teleported himself to the outside courtyard behind one of its many pillars so as not to be seen on his entrance. Walking out he watched as five air ships loomed closer to the academy.

"Right then," flipping open his notebook and clicking his pen he scribbled in the date followed by 'noticeable personality traits of new students'. "Which one of you will exhibit strong personality's in proportion to your semblance~? _Hmph, _wonder if that Ruby Rose girl's going to be here for this."

As he looked up to the closest ship, a stiffening pain shot through his neck, causing him to wince a bit and grip the back of neck. It lasted for a moment, but the pain lingered a little.

This wasn't the first time he felt it either. A number had gone on and off through his joints in the past week. Part of him thought it was just a side effect of the human flesh he merged with on entering the timeline, but he'd never really been able to 'look into it'.

'If this keeps up, I'm going to have even more problems to deal with.'

**Earlier**

"Woooww~, you can see Signal from up here," Ruby cooed as the airship flew over the city before leaving the last of its building behing. "Guess home isn't too far away."

"Beacons our new home," Yang tried to comfort her joyfully, walking up to beside Ruby and wrapping an arm around her little sisters' shoulder.

They were both interrupted by the muffled belching of someone hurling up their lunch. Turning to the other end of the passenger hold, a blonde boy in white armour was cupping his mouth near the window hurriedly wobble past them in search of salvation in the form of a bin.

There wasn't one.

"Well, guess the view isn't for everyone," Yang shrugged with a wry smile.

"It was a nice moment while it lasted."

"I wonder who we're going to meet at the academy."

"I just hope they're better than vomit boy."

"You mean like your partner in crime?"

"Yang, it was not a crime. Well…. It was, but we weren't the ones committing it. We we're stopping it, and his name was….Wing….Ding…. I think. It's a weird name."

"Wing Ding, huh? Look at you going and making friends before even getting to school," she cheered with a growing grin.

"We hardly talked to one another."

"You fought alongside him, didn't you? That's basically like a full unspoken conversation."

As the two of them continued arguing to one another, and a certain someone beginning to leak the contents of his stomach through his fingers, the first pillars of Beacon academy's courtyard's.

**Later**

It'd been about fifteen minutes or so since getting off the air ship, and in just that time Ruby had managed to lose Yang, herself, explode, yelled at by an ice queen who turned out to be the heiress to one of the biggest dust companies in Remnant and make a friend.

Cool beans all things considered.

Her new friend in question being the infamous vomit boy from the airship who corrected his name to being Jaune Arc. Though vomit boy would forever be his little nickname.

Walking through the courtyard with idle chatter and the occasional argument of health, the pair didn't waste any time in getting to know each other. Even if Ruby didn't know what to say at times.

"I'm just saying, motion sickness is a much more common thing than people realize."

"I'm sorry, but the moment I saw you the first thing that came to mind was 'vomit boy'," Ruby pleaded.

"Oh yea, well how about I call you 'crater face'?"

"But that explosion was completely by accident."

"And so was my sickness."

"_Ah-Eeeeh~_. So, do you know where we're going? I think initiation's supposed to start soon."

"I…..thought you might've known…."

A feeling of dread flushed over them both realizing their predicament. As Ruby looked around, hoping to get a better idea of where they were, she found someone in a familiar looking coat with bone white hair standing by one of the surrounding pilllars and scribbling in a notebook.

A sense of hope coming to light, Ruby lead Jaune over to them who still hadn't noticed the pair.

"Hey, Wing Ding, is that you?"

At the calling of his name, Gaster looked up from his notes with a blank expression on his face at seeing her. Slowly it turned to a smile that felt a little forced for Jaune's liking behind his little energetic friend.

"I thought you might be here, Ruby Rose," the doctor addressed in a formal manner and snapping his notebook shut. "That is your name, isn't it?"

"A~bsolutely~. How's your chest doing? Last I saw you that flare really did a number on you."

"Yes, that blast did have a bit of a sting to it," he replied, rubbing where Romans' flare had hit him. After the tussle with the human criminal, the clothes Gaster was wearing then had been burnt next to useless, luckily, he still had the clothes he'd bought earlier then, so there were quick replacements on hand. Truth be told, he was still healing with only minor burn marks on his ribcage. "I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be in a fight with a human~."

Ruby looked a little confused at Gaster's statement but was cut off before she could ask any further.

"I'm sorry but um…. Am I missing something here?" Jaune queried, cutting in. "Hi, I'm Jaune and…. what happened to you face?"

Gaster's smile twitched a little at the question as Ruby lightly elbowed Jaune in the side. Well, it was light for her, but to Jaune who didn't have aura protection it might as well have been a jab.

Meanwhile, the good doctor took this distraction to take a quick look into Jaunes soul.

Normally looking into a soul came naturally for someone like Gaster, but ever since his entry into the timeline and the inclusion of flesh upon him, he hadn't quite noticed he hadn't been seeing souls until recently.

He concluded that with his magic divided between him and keeping his disguise alive, some of his natural functions as a monster had become limited. Now, he needed a little bit more concentration to see into souls.

"Jaune, you can't just ask someone a question like that. It's rude," Ruby told Jaune off whule the blonde rubbed his side.

"W-well I was just curious," he rasped a little, turning to the scientist. "S-sorry for asking, I didn't mean to be offensive."

"Quite alright, just be sure to know what asking questions like that can get you," Gaster ran a hand over his scar running from his eye to his mouth. From the surface of Jaune's soul, the boy wasn't bad or meaning to be impolite. A bit of a goof ball, and a fake, but his LV and EXP were both low.

Though Ruby was a little different than that.

She had high execution points, but a low level of violence. Maybe that's why she's so cheery, because she doesn't have it in her to be exceptionally violent, despite no doubt having many grimm kills under her belt.

The higher someone's level, the more they're distanced from themselves and the easier it is for them to kill. Just like Chara.

There was an awkward silence amongst them until Ruby managed to speak up.

"A-anyway, I think introductions might be needed. Jaune, this is Wing Ding Gaster. We sort of met last week during a robbery, but we didn't really talk much then. Wing Ding, this is Vom - Jaune Arc."

"It's ahhh, a pleasure to meet you," Jaune greeted, holding out his hand.

"Yes, but please call me Gaster," he replied taking his hand with his own gloved right hand and shaking.

Jaune felt a little uneasy at how bony Gaster's hand felt through the glove, and when they released, a feeling of dread lingered over him a little more than he'd like

"By the way, I do believe we've met before."

"W-we have?" Jaune stuttered before he found himself holding his breath a little. He really didn't want another person calling him the infamous 'vomit boy' again.

"Yes, but it wasn't direct. You took a scholarship exam last week, I happened to be in the same combat examination building as you. You struggled quite a bit with your examinee."

Jaune released his breath at the declaration. A ray of hope.

"Ye-yea I did. It wasn't easy, but I managed to catch mine off guard when I kinda…..tripped. Though I could've beaten them without it," he boasted.

"Yeaaa~," Gaster somewhat agreed, remembering what he thought when he saw Jaune flailing around like Papyrus in the kitchen making spaghetti. Difference was, one did it with a passionate smile and the lingering arrival of a fatal cuisine.

'He really got a miracle out of it.'

"So, what are you doing just standing around, are you lost too?" Ruby queried.

"Hm, oh no, no, I'm just collecting notes on the other students that I've seen so far," he replied, gesturing to his notebook.

Ruby's eyes lit up at that. "Ooohh~, are you collecting details on the different types of weapons everyone else has?"

Gaster was taken back by the sudden statement, opening his mouth to answer but was quickly cut off.

"So what have you found so far? How many different types of weapons did you see? Were there any big ones? Can you tell if someone's made theirs themselves? My sister's weapons aren't big, but her gauntlets are just as powerful. Did you get my weapon down? Do you want to see my weapon? What weapon do you have?"

Gaster found himself cornered by the bombardment of weapon related questions by the short girl as she got closer with an ecstatic expression on her face.

"Uhm, sure, I wouldn't mind seeing your weapon again."

Ruby plucked the red box off her belt before mechanically unfolding it to it's full on scythe length, the head clanging into the ground and scaring Jaune a little. "This is my little baby, crescent rose. I made her to be a scythe that's also a customizable, high impact, sniper rifle."

"A wha…?" Jaune asked, sounding a little overwhelmed as though he'd never heard all those words mixed together before.

"I would've thought kids these days were all about guns."

"It's also a gun," Ruby clarified to the blondie, cocking it.

"Oh, well that's cool."

"So what do you have?"

"Me? Well I've got this….. and this," he exclaimed sheepishly, pulling out his sword from its sheath before the sheath clipped out from the sides, extending out to become a shield. "A couple of hand-me downs from my great-great grandfather from back in the war."

"Well it sounds more like a family air loom to me," Ruby laughed uneasily, possibly realizing that she might've accidently insulted him. "Well I like it, there aren't that many people who appreciate the classics these days."

"Yeah, the classics~."

"S-so, what have you got Wing Ding- I mean, Gaster?"

"Me? I don't really have a weapon like those. My hands are more accustomed to less taxing labour than welding toys like those."

"Y-You mean you don't have a weapon? But I thought you were a total weapons geek, like me, with all the notes you were taking on everybody's weapons."

"Mrs Rose, I never said I was taking notes on their weapons. You just assumed I was."

Ruby's expression faltered at the realization dawning on her.

He's right, he didn't even mention the word 'weapon' when she asked, she just assumed he meant it. "So you did~, _hehe. _But if you don't have a weapon then what was with those floating hands you fought with on the roof top? You were using energy rings that whizzed though the air and everything."

"That? That was my semblance," Gaster lied, sticking with the story he made for himself. "I can do a lot of things with it and by using these," snapping his fingers, seven skeleton hands with a different colour in the singularly large holes in the palms materialized into being around him.

The two humans before him stood shocked for a moment to see bone skeleton hand suddenly materializing without warning.

Ruby recovered quicker than Jaune and before any of them could react she burst into rose petal, whizzing past Gaster before snatching the red hand of determination from the air. Her eyes sparkling again as she turned her prize over in her hands as the bone fingers slacked around.

"Cooool~. Your semblance is to summon glowing skeleton hands? Can you lift objects with them? What can they do? Why are they all glowing different colours? I like this red one, can they all be red?" she bombarded again.

Gaster could hardly hide his rising surprise by her reaction, staring wide eyed at her with a blank expression before lighting up and slowly breaking into a chuckle. He'd half expected her to be in a little more in shock like Jaune over here, but if anything her enthusiasm for the unknown was a sobering site.

He'd forgotten the last time he saw childish wonder like hers. It was probably the same as the first time he let his sons see his lab. Sans didn't exactly show his excitement, going straight for the desk chair with an adjustable back before going to sleep on it under the fan.

Papyrus on the other hand, would not stop asking questions. They practically spent a full afternoon going around the place until Gaster had answered every single one of them. He had to work overtime just to catch up on all the work he pushed back.

But the time he spent with his sons was worth it.

"Hmhm, I'll tell you later," the doctor replied, letting his hands vanish and hearing Ruby's slight wail of dismay at the disappearing of the red hand she held. "But I think we have another problem."

There was a moment of silence until Ruby's eyes widened. "The initiation!"

Jaune gripped both sides of his head before he cried out a bit in shock.

"Don't worry, the halls over there," Gaster reassured, pointing in a direction. "I'd go there myself, but there're a few other things I need to do before that."

"Okay, don't be late."

The both of them turned tail and ran as fast as they could, though Ruby had to hold back a little to let Jaune keep up with her. Soon Gaster once again stood alone in the courtyard, his smile disappearing before pulling out and opening up his not book again.

[Ruby rose; personality seems extremely joyous and positive despite existing EXP status. Semblance so far appears to be moving at rapid speeds with turning to rose petals believed to be a side effect. Further investigation needed. Jaune Arc; personality timid and quiet with low LV and EXP. Is positive but seems to be easily saddened. From reading his soul, semblance hasn't been unlocked, possibility as human test subject].

Closing the book, Gaster looked to his scroll. "I should get going, or else I'm going to miss it too."

**Interlude**

Jaune and Ruby soon came to a massive building where an amass of student were gathering with thunderous chatter literally echoing from it. Even if they didn't follow Gasters directional's, they might've been able to find the place if they were half a kilometre away or so. Downside was they were well over that back at the courtyard. Pretty easy to see how much more wondering around they would've done before getting into hearing range.

"Ruby, over here! I saved you a spot!"

At the calling, Ruby spotted Yang waving at her from amongst the crowd.

"Yang~. Sorry, I've gotta go. See you after the ceremony~," Ruby quickly called before dashing away and leaving Jaune behind who tried to protest by reaching after her to no avail as she was already gone.

"Ah- ahhh~... Where am I supposed to find a quirky girl to talk to now?" he sighed, dropping his arm in defeat and wondering in his own random direction into the masses.

He would've followed Ruby, but he'd just end up being a third wheel if nothing else. If he was lucky, he could've inserted himself into their conversation, but it would've been awkward enough to just follow her after saying 'see you later'.

No, the best chance for him to introduce himself is when the setting is fresh and he can make a cool slide in. At least that's something his mother would say.

Feeling a sense of hope rise up within him, Jaune caught a glimpse of bone white hair belong to someone in a trench coat amongst the crowed ahead of him.

"That couldn't be…..," pacing over, Jaune took a peak at what was being written in the notebook and failed at hiding his surprise with widening eyes. What Gaster was writing… was nothing he understood. It was a string of hand signs, bombs, mini-pentagrams and a bunch of other symbols stretching across the lined pages. Even a couple of emojis popped up. "Gaster?"

At the calling of his name, the scientist stopped his writing to look over his shoulder with a motionless expression. It looked somewhat bored.

"Jaune, I didn't think you'd get here so quickly," he said, closing the book with the pen trapped the pages before tucking it away into his coat.

"Well you seem to have gotten here quicker than we did. Di-did you pass us by, we didn't see you?"

"Semblance," he replied nodding away. "Comes in very handy when I need to get to places quickly."

"Ah yea, semblance~. They do come in handy, don't they~?" laughed a bit picking up on Gasters' joke, but it didn't look like he picked it up himself.

That, or just couldn't see the humour in it.

"It helps, and I'm interested in seeing how yours will manifest itself."

"Wha-I-I've already got my semblance. It's totally useful. Just not…. For getting to places," he trailed off and glancing to his feet for a moment as the blue and red eyes bore their way into him.

It was almost like they were staring into the depths of his soul.

"Jaune, I have lived for a very long time and I know when someone's lying to me. You don't have a semblance, do you?"

"….Is it that obvious?"

Gaster nodded.

"I-it's not that I don't have one. I just haven't unlocked it yet, and I thought….. if I don't tell anyone outright, and managed to get it myself, the girls would like me with just my confidence. That's what my mom says they all look for in a man."

"I can see where you're coming from, I guess, but trying to get a girl to like you for who you are doesn't happen when you put on a façade"

"I'm not putting on a façade."

The scientist crossed his arms, continuing to eye him for a bit with unblinking stoic eyes.

"Eh-N-Not a complete façade."

"_Sigh, _well, teenage girls aren't the easiest to understand at times. Behavioural wise they've mentally matured more than boys at their age, including you, so thinking around that can help at times."

Jaune was a little perplexed by that statement. Does that mean he won't get popular with the girls because they see him as too immature? Is there really a way to work around that?

"….yeah~, and we can talk about cute boys~. Like tall blonde and, scraggly over there."

Jaune perked up at the mention of his attire. They both turned to see a girl in a white dress with silver hair tied into a side ponytail jabbing her thumb in their general direction. It seemed kind of mocking, but Jaune didn't get that impression.

Straightening up and combing his fingers through his hair to tidy it up to a certain degree, he put on a confident face. "Seems like my confidence has just opened an opportunity for me. I'm going in."

"You're not going to take anything I just said to heart, are you?"

"I'll be sure to keep it in mind," he declared, not even making it a foot before the hall pierced by loud feedback screeching from the speakers and quieting the room of chatter followed by a cough echoing throughout.

"I'll keep this brief," everyone turned to the stage to see Ozpin dressed in his green suit with mug in hand before a microphone with Glynda Goodwitch behind him.

As Ozpin went on to make his announcement, Gaster tuned out of it, going back to his notebook to continue writing in an entry.

[-With student body consisting of both human and faunus numbering well above a hundred, there are many specimens to which I can work with. So far, out of the seventy-three briefly noted at the dock and hall, all have unlocked their semblances with the exception of one. Taking note of this, it's possible aura can either be unlocked through constant training or let it come naturally under certain circumstances. However, there may be a third condition where the subject needs to be forthcoming and honest with themselves if real progress is to be made as having aura unlocked means the inner self is shown more openly. Would explain why most users of semblance in this timeline are huntsmen followed by less than honest living citizens. Further investigation required with active hypothesis].

"….dismissed."

At that, Gaster was pulled from his notes and before he knew it, Jaune flew away to the group of girls where the one that pointed at him was along with Ruby and a long-haired blonde. Gaster recognized her as the heiress he took note of earlier out the front where she was yelling at Ruby. Of course, he also saw the little explosion she was a part of, but Gaster had at least had a sliver of fondness for the human to not bring it up in their earlier talks.

Watching as Jaune breezed his way in, he could feel himself giving an inward sigh to the apparent delusional human, fully expecting his attempts to fail at coming off as the guy he intended to present himself as.

'He definitely has confidence going for him if nothing else. Though he had to pick the proud Schnee of all people,' he thought before turning away from the show and making head way out of the hall.

'I'm going to need a chalk board if this keeps going on… oh that's right, the new students including myself won't be sleeping in dorms tonight, but in the ballroom. _Hmm_, this is going to be tricky.'

"I'll have to sleep in my clothes tonight~," he groaned in displeasure.

**Later**

The ballroom was packed to say the least. Sleeping bags lined the floor with students either wondering around or lying in their pyjamas with others. Unfortunately, Gaster had to be the exception to this, lying on top of his sleeping bag in his turtleneck sweater, trousers and socks, flipping over his notes of the day.

It wasn't his ideal sleeping situation, but given his condition it was best to remain covered less his monster attribute be revealed. He did have pyjamas tucked away amongst the clothes he bought, just they were leaning more towards the summer nights.

Despite it all, the sacrifice of personal hygiene left a bad taste in his mouth, and the tongue emphasized it.

The new pieces of flesh on his body had their downsides, producing sweat at times and having a number of the other bodily troubles with having it. It wasn't like he was tired or exhausted when he sweats, it was just something it did. He didn't even have lungs to even approach hyperventilation.

Eyelids on the other hand, now those he did have, and right now they were getting heavier with each passing minute he Gaster fought to keep them open. Not that he's ever won the fights so much as prolong them throughout his time here.

"Oh dear~, I'll have to worry about the rest of this tomorrow," Gaster mulled, taking a quick look around the room at the other humans.

Tomorrow was going to be the day they'd all be split into teams, but he really didn't want to work alongside any of them. It wasn't so much as he still somewhat resented humans, well, he did to a degree, he just couldn't have any of them finding out he's a monster.

Plus he wasn't really one to work alongside children, they were too immature for his taste, unlike Sans. Now he was a real prodigy growing up, despite his…..lunch breaks.

"Hang on….. there's….four, eight, twelve, sixteen, twenty-five~…thir~, for~, fif~, six~,….an odd number of students here?"

If what he'd learnt was true, first years were to be divided up into teams of four, meaning you had to be able to divide the number of students in the room by four. But there was one above the nearest divisible number.

Was there an error in the school teaming system, or did he incorrectly learn how they'd divided?

Either way, there wasn't anything he could do about it. He had neither the power nor the reason to change the rules. Unless there was another aspect to it he was missing.

Deciding not to delve too much into it, he lay back onto his pillow, letting the eyelids have their way, closing shut and resting the open book on his face. He couldn't explain it, but having an open book on him while he slept helped him clear his mind before drifting off to sleep.

'Children can be so energetic it's ridiculous~, I'm practically the only adult here~. Oh well, I have bigger nightmares to deal with than them~…..'

He wasn't entirely wrong. Most of the humans in the room were too energetic to go to sleep, but another reason why was because they were too restless. For most, it was the first night at their dream school, how could they not be restless with excitement, or let alone filled with nervousness?

At the other end of the ballroom, Ruby was one such person who was filled with a mixture of both. She lay on her belly in black and red pyjamas as she wrote a letter with her sister coming up to her.

"It's like a biiiig~ slumber party," Yang heaved, flopping down beside her little sister who barely got a jump out of it.

"I doubt dad would approve of all the boys though," Ruby replied dryly.

"I know I do~," her sister cooed eyeing the boys strolling at one end of the room shirtless, a couple noticing and flexing, until Jaune came along, fully dressed in ocean blue winter pj's with rabbit slippers. He also noticed Yang and tried to give a silent 'hey~' in a _cool_ manner. 'Tried' being the key word here as his whole attire just made him look goofy, making Yang cringe a little before turning back to her sister. "What'cha writing?"

"A letter for the gang back at Signal. I promised to write to them about Beacon and everything."

"Awww, that's soo cuuute~," Yang chimed before getting a pillow in the face.

"Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends to school with me like you did, it's weird not knowing anyone here~."

"What about Jaune. He's…. nice….. there, plus one friend."

"Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend."

"There's no such thing as negative friends. You~, just made one friend and one enemy," another pillow to the face. "Pretty sure you're running low on pillows there, sis. But what about that Gaster fellow you talked about, you found him, right?"

"Yep. He's…..," Ruby began, sitting up and looking around. She felt a little confused not seeing him at first, until she saw the familiar white glove he wore on his right hand. "Over there with the book on his face."

"That's Gaster? Little weird he sleeps in his cloths with a book on his face. That glove he has makes him look like a conductor," Yang commented as Ruby went to lie back down but stopped herself when she caught sight of the far side of the room ahead of her. "There we go, another friend. Things aren't so bad."

"…That girl," Ruby whispered, still looking ahead. Yang turned as well and saw a girl dressed in black pyjamas with a bow on her head and her face buried in a black book with a red moon on the cover.

"You know her?"

"Not really. She was there when I exploded earlier but left before I could say anything."

"Welp, now's your chance," Yang called happily, grabbing her sisters' hand and pulling her up despite Ruby's attempts at resisting being dragged to where the little book worm sat.

As the pair got closer, she peaked up from the pages of her book to see Yang coming closer with an outlandish grin on her face. Ruby behind her desperately yanking back to set herself free, or at least slow down her impending nightmare of socialization.

"Heelloooo~!" she sang. "I believe you two mayyyy know each other~."

As Yang gestured to Ruby who was collecting herself, the girl in black turned to her and looked Ruby over with golden cat-like eyes.

"…..Aren't you that girl that exploded earlier?"

"Umm, yea. My name's Ruby," she introduced with a half-hearted laugh, holding out her hand for a shake but shyly withdrew to rub the back of her head instead with an awkward smile. "But you can call me crater faay~…. Actually, you can just call me Ruby."

**Later**

That night, Jaune didn't sleep as soundly as some of the others did. If anything it was more…..peculiar.

Straining open his eyes, Jaune felt the weight of sleep pressing him down. When he looked up, he was met with nothing but darkness, and when he looked to his left and to his right, there was just more of the same.

After lying on the ground for a little bit longer in eerie silence, he sat himself up to get a better idea of what was going on.

"…This is…pretty weird. For a dream," he murmured, his voice echoing. Looking down, he saw that he was partially submerged in dark water. He hadn't noticed before because it didn't feel harm or cold, but it was definitely liquid. "AAAAHHH! Oh no, please tell me I didn't wet the bed again!"

Jumping up, he desperately tried drying off his pyjamas only for a misstep and finding his foot quickly sinking into the deep black waters. He couldn't stop himself before the rest of him was completely consumed.

"What the-_ghhhggrr_~."

For a brief moment his vision was blanketed by the water, when things came back, what he saw took his breath away. Normally having your breath taken away under water would drown you, but thinking about that was the last thing on Jaunes' mind as he boar witness to the practical universe stretching out before him.

Admits the darkness of his surroundings twinkled what looked like distant stars. Around him as he continued falling stretched glowing yellow pillars, all connecting and branching away from each other as they fell down into the abyss below.

It was like they went on forever.

Jaune reached out and managed to grapple onto one of them, halting his decent with a bone jarring backlash.

"Oh-oh jeez, what is this~?!" he panicked, a tingling feeling hummed on his hand. Looking up to see, his hand grasping the yellow pillar was beginning to glow the same colour before flaking like crunchy-nut cornflakes. Shock filled his heart as it raced down his arm engulfing him completely. "Arrgh-!"

He was cut off short with his vision swirling and the next thing he knew, he was falling again, only this time the ground of a city was rushing up to meet him at alarming speed with the wind whipping through his hair.

After some more screaming of absolute terror, Jaune closed his eyes before crashing face-first right into the concrete pavement with a hard _smack_. Expecting to be completely liquified, he had a trembly opened his eyes.

He was alright.

He was alive and in one piece. In a little pain, but alive.

Lips trembling into laughter, Jaune slowly brought himself back up to his feet. His landing wasn't comfortable, but it wasn't life threatening, it was like he landed on a pole-vaulting mat

"Haaah-Ah-haha, this, this dream is starting to freak me out a bit~," he half laughed, trying to maintain his sanity.

A shadowy figure passed him by.

Startled, Jaune stepped back a bit and raising his hands in defence. He soon let out a sigh of relief, it was just a person in a suit.

Actually, he was surrounded by a lot of people. Looking around, Jaune found himself in the walk-way of a busy street. No one was even batting an eye to the fact that Jaune had just fallen from the sky like a raindrop and should've been splatted like one.

It made him feel uneasy, a little terrified and he was becoming more and more aware of it by the second. A little unusual to have together in a dream.

Looking around more, Jaune recognised where he was. He was home, this was his home town. "Okay, this is starting to feel like a trip down memory lane."

Making a move, he walked through the streets, noticing that everything was somewhat bleak. Not just bleak as in attitude, but the atmosphere and the people seemed kind of dark, and that wasn't just because of the suits this time. Before too long he found his way home.

Something was odd. There were more cars parked along the street than usual, even a black funeral car parked in his drive way.

'That's…..odd.'

He climbed the stairs and pushing through the door he was again met with eerie silence. Giving a call out for anyone, he hoped someone was home.

No answer.

Jaune didn't like this one bit, quickly pacing to the living room he immediately found everyone in the house at once. Rows of fold-out chairs lined the room facing the front where a podium stood next to an open coffin surrounded by a bed of flowers. Everyone Jaune ever knew prior to the academy was here either sitting in the chairs or standing off to the sides ranging from family, friends to neighbours.

All of them wore the same downcast expressions, some faring better at holding back tears than others.

"Hey everyone, what's going on here?" Jaune called in slight distraught. They didn't answer, out-right ignoring him. A little more worried than annoyed, Jaune went over to one of his seven sisters who was present. "Amanda, do you know what's going on-."

He cut himself short as she looked up to him with teary eyes. She was looking at him, but her eyes weren't focused on him. Turning back around to the coffin behind and without a word, Jaune paced over to take a peek inside.

He choked back on his own breath, almost tripping over himself. The person lying in the coffin was him. Dead. "Wha-what kind of sick dream is this?"

Stammering backwards, he turned wide eyed to rest of the people in the room. Was this _his_ funereal? This was _his funereal_. Jaune caught a glimpse of his mother amongst everyone with his father by her. She was visually one of the most heart broken in the room.

His father sitting beside her rested a hand on his mothers' shoulder with tearing eyes. She nodded solemnly before getting up and walking to stand behind the podium overlooking everyone else.

"Jaune was….a-a brave boy. Strong, confident, and always wanting to be a huntsman~, _sniff~_. When I told him being a huntsman wasn't for everybody, and I was already proud of him being himself, I'd already expected him to be a little rebellious for a boy his age. But I-I-I never imagined he'd try and get there by…..by….. oh god….," his mother broke down before she could finish her speech. Her lips trembling as she buried her crying face into her hands.

"Wh-what? N-No, mum, I'm here, I'm alive," Jaune hastily ran to the stage to block her path as she was led off crying. "You don't have to worry, I'm going to be a huntsman an-and make you prou-."

Trying to reassure her, his mum just ended up walking through him. Not in the sense that she passed by him and it only seemed like she went through Jaune. His mother literally passed through him as though he were a ghost.

It freaked him out.

Was he really dead? Was everything that happened at the academy the other day a dream and this was the reality? Glancing to the open coffin, he looked really hard at the boy's face. His face.

"O-Okay, this isn't funny anymore~," he nervously laughed, slowly pacing back down the aisle before turning and breaking into a sprint. "I want to wake up!"

He bolted through the porch and burst through the front door, tripping over a couple of stairs and out into the streets of people. Jaune tried slowing but ended up colliding right into someone. No, through them.

Just like his mum, the person just passed right through him without showing any notice of his presence.

"No, no, this can't be real, it's just a dream," he hyperventilated as more people passed through him. Pulling up his sleeve, he pinched his wrist with all his might. If hitting the pavement doesn't wake him up, then hurting himself has to work, it's basic self-wake up knowledge.

It wasn't working, and he was beginning to think he was about to break the skin.

"Come on, wake up~!"

He released his wrist and started slapping himself in the cheeks till they stung nearly as worse as his wrists. When that didn't work he didn't know what else to do. What could he do? If he couldn't wake himself up from the dream, then he'd just have to wait to awaken.

'Is this even a dream?' the thought echoed in his head and the more he listened to it, the more scarred he became.

Jaunes feet began moving on their own, going back to a run down the middle of the street, cars and people constantly passing through him. He didn't care where he was going, just so long as it was anywhere but here, this nightmare.

"You there~."

Jaune suddenly froze in his tracks as a voice called. Was it talking to him, or just someone passing by? He didn't know how, but his heart was freezing under it. It was like a cold hand was squeezing it from behind.

As people passed by, Jaune slowly turned around.

There was nothing at first, but looking closer, amongst the flowing crowds and cars, a lone figure dressed in black stood tall above the rest. Jaune immediately knew he wasn't like the other people in this nightmare, after all, his face…his head was that of a skeleton with fractures running from his eyes.

That, and he was also looking directly at him.

Or he at least assumed it was based on how the two red and blue lights in the sockets, possible serving as eyes pierced at him.

"No-no I'm not really dead, am I?"

The skeleton just continued to look on at him in silence with glaring sockets. People were passing through him too, just as they were with Jaune.

"B-but I-I was already at Beacon…..I had made it…."

No reply.

"I just…. I just wanted to be a hero. Can't you please just understand that I wanted to help people~. To live up to my family's legacy and be someone they can be proud of….someone,_ I_ can be proud of…."

The practical, if not the literal, personification of death itself raised a hand and pointed directly at Jaune, it's voice illegible but somehow came clearly. "Y u d n't 👌e ong h r ."

At his words, everyone immediately evaporated, cars and all leaving only Jaune and death standing in the streets.

"Please…..," Jaune pleaded, turning to run again. "I don't want it to end like this!"

Suddenly a burning feeling encased his right hand as the ground at his feet split in a fine line opening down like double doors to a shadowy abyss. Jaune fell right in to it, screaming into the darkness as the light was snapped shut by the doors above with a resounding _boom._

**Next day**

"Ggh-ahh-hagg-haaa~," Jaune's eyes snapped open, hyperventilating he sat up and rapidly glanced around. He was still in the Beacon ballroom with the other students who were either waking up as well or packing up their sleeping effects. "I-I am still here, I didn't – I didn't die~."

Half grinning a bit in relief, Jaune turned down to his hands which were shacking quite a bit. The right more than the left.

"Ha! Look at that guy over there. Guy's pissing his pants on the big day~."

Looking up, Jaune saw a group of boys laughing amongst themselves and looking at Jaune with mocking grins. Suddenly realizing, he looked down to his lap, under the sheets and patted it down.

A sigh of relief. Dry, no bed wetting last night thank god.

"Hey Jaune, you doing alright?" turning up, Jaune came face with Ruby, still in her pj's with a ridiculous case of bed hair. She glanced over to the boys who were still snicking before back to him. "Try not to let those guys get to you, people like them don't seem to care much about how other people feel."

"Him? Nah, h-he was just joking around~. I just feel a little down from…..a bad dream."

"Well, let's try and stay with a positive attitude. We have our initiation today."

"Y-yeah, let's do our best," Jaune agreed wholeheartedly and feeling a slow blow of a second wind. "We're at Beacon after all."

"That's the spirit~!"

**Later**

"There's no way I put my gear in locker six-three-six yesterday, I would've remembered to count that high," Jaune whined pacing paced through the locker room where all the other new students mostly stood in groups.

Now out of the ballroom, all the new students were expected to get ready before their initiation in into the academy. They'd placed all their weapons and armour into a locker room which Jaune was assuming he was in now, but he just couldn't find where he placed all his stuff yesterday.

If he really lost his grandfather's sword, he'd live the rest of his short life in shame.

Still in a bit of a panic and not looking where he was going, Jaune bumped into the back of someone and reflex on instinct went straight to apologising. "Ah, sorry, sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Watch yourself, buddy~," a voice responded in a malicing tone.

Still bowing, Jaune found a pair of solid black shoes connected to towering legs gripped in silver armour rising out of his view. Slowly looking up, he came face to the person he bumped into towering over him.

He had short cut orange hair combed straight up and clad nearly completely in silver armour with a raven emblem on his chest plate and a mace strapped to his side. His eyes bore down upon Jaune in a threatening gaze that made him shrivel a little.

"Do that again, and there might be more than just an _accident_ next time~."

Three other boys, also clad in armour came up from behind the boy with similar appearances, giggling a little as if the threat just told was some kind of joke.

"I-i-i….," Jaune found himself stuttering on his words a little.

"Ha, the kids got his pants scared off."

"Good thing too, they might still be wet from his accident last night~."

The four of them burst out laughing before Cardin, leading the group pushed past Jaune and heading for the other end of the locker room.

"Cardin Winchester."

At the names mention, Jaune turned around to find Gaster leaning against the lockers opposite him writing in his notebook again. Glancing up every now and again to view the other people in the room.

"Confident, brazen, but the same time an arrogant, short-sighted fool who may never be truly respected if he doesn't treat others with respect."

"That's actually a pretty confident thing, to talk behind his back I mean," Jaune replied, being able to gather himself up.

"It's not gossip, if that's what you're thinking," he said, still writing away, glancing to an orange haired girl who was buzzing around a guy dressed in green like a happy bumble bee. He did not look like he was annoyed at all.

"A-am I written in that book as well like that?"

"_Hmm_~, you have more common sense, better nature and respect than him if that's what you're worried about."

"That's…. comforting to know~," Jaune breathed, thankful that he wasn't thought of as a loser by one of the only few people he'd managed to befriend in the academy so far.

The academy! He was still looking for his gear for the initiation.

Suddenly remembering what he was originally looking for, Jaune went back down to his paper and looking to all the lockers.

Meanwhile, Gaster, having Jaune spin round on the spot confused was slowly driving him mad.

It was like watching a chicken run around with its head lobbed off. He thought about teleporting to the opposite side of the room. But then he'd have to contend with those delinquents even further, and knowing someone else was seeking answers without him knowing the problem was just an unbearable itch he found just as unbearable.

At least this way, he'd be dealing with human who'd be helping him think in the process. He wouldn't lose imaginary braincells over it.

Taking a deep breath and putting his writing on hold, the doctor looked up to the blonde with a shard of resentment in his heart.

"You need something?"

"No no, it's just I can't find my locker. I'm sure I put my stuff in locker one-three-seven, but my note from the teachers is telling me it's in locker six-three-six."

Closing his book with the pen left as a bookmark before circling behind him.

"You're not wrong Jaune, you did put your stuff into a locker that wasn't labelled six-three-six. But as this is a different locker room from the one you used yesterday, there are bound to always be some changes in numbers."

"This is a different locker room?"

Gaster stopped in front of a locker numbered six-three-six before opening it. Inside was Jaunes sword in its collapsed shield-sheath.

"Yes, and that's why they let you know ahead of - are you listening?"

Jaune wasn't looking at either Gaster, nor the locker but past Gasters' shoulder.

Turning around he saw the heiress Weiss dressed in her white dress Jaune was eyeing in the hall yesterday and went to lay the moves on. He got shot down, no surprise there.

She was talking to a red-haired girl dressed in golden armour with a red sash tied around her waist side as she fitted a shield onto her left arm and sheathing a sword onto her back.

Having already read her soul in his free time before dealing with Jaune, Gaster recognised her as Pyrrha, almost as kind hearted as Ruby with just as much execution points. Impressive for a human, but no where as near as strong as some of the humans during the great war in his time line, or even king Asgore during his prime.

It looked like Weiss was trying to start up a conversation, but Pyrrha looked like she was finding the whole thing a little awkward. Even going as far as to put on a farce comparable to Jaune being an actual accepted student at the academy with a smiling face and contributing to the conversation.

"You're not seriously going to try it again?"

"Hey, some girls just like playing hard to get. If I take what happened yesterday and change it up a bit, I'm sure she'll come around," Jaune went into the locker, fishing out his gear while still looking to Weiss.

"Uh-huh, and tell me, what did you learn?"

Jaune went to pass him by, but Gaster held out an arm blocking his path. He looked to the scientist a little confused.

"I-I learnt something important."

"Nice to know, but that's not what I want to ask you. Lat night, did you happen to dream of anything strange?"

Gaster's question surprised Jaune more than it confused him. What was he getting at, did he know, or was he just assuming? But then why would he ask?

"I-I did….."

"Would you be willing to tell me about it?"

"Not really…. I don't exactly feel comfortable talking about it."

"Then at least tell me, do you recall seeing an endless open space with golden branches growing throughout, like they were part of a tree with no visible trunk, and did you also see a monster? Specifically, a skeleton?"

Jaunes eyes widened at the detailed questions. They were specific, too specific to be simply coincidental. But what does that mean?

"Y-yes," he managed to breath.

"I see," Gaster replied, looking into Jaunes eyes for a little bit longer before lowering his arm out of Jaunes way. "Let me know if you dream about it again tonight. You might have a condition."

"A-a what?"

"Try not to think about it too much. Just be yourself."

Jaune wanted to press more, but what could he say? Gaster didn't look like he was willing to talk about it further, and just thinking about his dream made his heart sink.

Swallowing his questions and taking a deep breath, Jaune put back on his confident face with a smile and glided over to where Weiss and the amazons were. As he went, Gaster trailed his red and blue eyes on him.

'Interesting,' he mused, looking first to the human slide between the two girls before turning to his right gloved hand, flexing his bones beneath. 'It seems the residue is stronger than I thought.'

Ever since the first night he slept after entering the timeline, Gaster had always been dreaming about the void, as though he was in it. After a while he began to believe more and more that they weren't just dreams, he even had the same amount of control in seeing everything as he did before.

With all that, he began hypothesizing when he lets go of reality, he mentally returns to the void.

With just his mental being, Gaster could enter any timeline he wanted, even the ones that hadn't ended, but he couldn't interreact with them. He'd be no more than a whisper in the breeze.

So pretty much the same as before.

He found his anti-core there, decaying, but still fully operational and very much active. But again, he couldn't interreact with it either because he was only there mentally. Also, whenever he got to close it would suck away at his mental magic and drop him back into this timeline.

He figured that because he had come from the void, he was drenched in its non-existence radiation. He called this 'void residue', and it would seem there was more to it than he originally thought. Gaster didn't have the equipment to study it, but it seemed he could spread the residue to others through physical interaction and pass on its effects.

Last night, he was able to sense Jaune fall into a timeline, one where a version of him died on his way to Beacon. He pulled Jaune out of there, and if Gaster could really pass on the residue, then why didn't he see some of the people he touched earlier in there, like Glynda?

Does that mean there're conditions for it to be passed?

"Gasterrr!" the scientist was pulled out of his thoughts, mildly irritated, turning to the side to see Yang waving to him with a smile on her face.

Said Ruby was promptly trying to stop her with an unhappy look on her face.

"Hiii~, you seem to know Ruby a little, do you think she needs to break out of her shell?"

"Her what?" he queried, glancing to the girl in question who was glaring daggers at her sister before turning back. "And does this involve me?"

"Well you're one of the few people at Beacon she's actually talked with. she doesn't have much in the ways of people skills."

"Exscuse me! I do to!"

"Anyway, I was just thinking that from your first impression, you might be able to shed some opinion on the subject."

Incredible, for the first time in history, a human was actively seeking Gaster's opinion. It was absolutely horrible, he had better things to do with his time than deal with a human kids social problems.

At that thought, Gaster got an idea for a new experiment, and this was a good opportunity.

"Well I'd be happy to say, but I don't think I caught you're name," he lied.

"Oh, I'm Ruby's older sister, Yang," she introduced, still wearing that wide smile. "Ruby told me that she met you a while back and I've been meaning to say 'hi'."

"Well, hello then, I'm Wing Ding Gaster, but please call me Gaster," he greeted holding out his right gloved hand.

"Hello~," Yang took his hand and for a moment, her face paled until the both of them shook and let go. The colour quickly soon came back to her face, along with her joyous expression. "S-so, what do you think, does Ruby need to break out of her shell and experience new people through _new_ people in her team?" she said that last part leaning towards her sister.

"Yang, shut-up," Ruby pestered. "Just admit that you're saying that you don't wish to be on the same team as me."

"I told you, it's nothing like that. I'm just saying that growing up means meeting new people and learning to work together-."

"And I'm saying that's exactly how dad sounds."

"It seems you really aren't very fond of meeting new people, Ruby," Gaster spoke up.

"Whaaat~? No, of course I like meeting new people. You get to see what they like, experience their own fighting styles, enjoy laughs together and possibly become friends."

"Then what is _your_ problem with meeting new people?"

"I-I just don't know anyone else beside a couple of people, okay. It's just nerve-racking to jump into the fray like that. I might even end up meeting the wrong people."

"And yet you've met me, Jaune, Blake and Weiss Schnees over there."

"Weiss? But she already hates me."

"Oh come on, Ruby, that's where the greatest hurdle is to be jumped," Yang called up wrapping an arm around her sister. "And who knows, you might bond with someone while getting out of a _grimm_ situation~."

Yang chuckled through her nose, trying to hold in a burst of laughter while Ruby visually groaned in agony. "Now you're _really_ just like dad."

Gaster couldn't help but smile a little at the two. The relationship they had was just so much like Sans and Papyrus, even if their roles were a little jumbled. One seeing the excitement in friends while the other makes puns on the fly only to have the former cringe.

As the sisters continued arguing, a small explosion sounded and a wailing Jaune flew right by the three of them before thudding into the lockers across the room. A long red javelin with gold lining pinning him by the hood.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha called from the other end with genuine sincerity. Weiss stood behind her with a smirk on her face, clearly, she'd been getting annoyed by Jaune's advances and seeing him fly away like that was no short of entertaining.

The speaker over-head crackled to life and Glynda's voice came through. "[Could all students please report to Beacon cliff for initiation. Again, could all students please report to Beacon cliff for initiation]."

'This….. is going to be interesting,' he thought, saving a blank page in his book before following everyone out. Little did he notice the sliver of flesh slip right out from his trouser leg. 'It's about time I got some fresh combat data.'

**Later**

"For years, you have trained to be warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald forest," Ozpin announced at the ridge of the cliff with the first year students lined before him on compressed launch pads.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard about the rumours to the assignment of teams," Glynda took over. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given team names. Today."

There were a few murmurs amongst the students.

"These team mates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with whom you can work well with. That being said, the first single person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years."

"What!" Ruby cried.

"However, this does not mean that mean that you should spend your time looking for other people. Once you have landed, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way, and do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the forest containing several relics. Each team must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and be graded appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune raised his hand in a meek attempt to get Ozpins' attention.

"Good, now take your positions," he ignored.

Everyone braced themselves to go flying. Gaster had never been launched before, he was a scientist more than a warrior, so this whole thing was new waters for him.

He did fight in the war years ago against the humans, but he was young and scared. There was a reason why he was the last true skeleton monster in the underground.

Not wanting to waste time thinking about it, Gaster looked to the others before taking a knee while pressing his fingertips against the platform not unlike a runner.

"Ahh, sir…. I've got a question-," Jaune tried again with a little more volume.

Before Gaster could hear what he had to say, his own catapult sent the scientist flying.

Quickly realizing he mucked up in his launch preparations.

"Well this is unfortunate. I was hoping to push off like a runner and saw through the air like a bird," he groaned as his whole figure stood straight in the air but was spinning like a stick thrown for a dog. "It would seem I growly miscalculated the angle and timing of the launch."

Still hurtling through the air unfunctionally, Gaster amused the idea of his predicament a little bit longer, catching glimpses of the other students who were sailing through the air with a bit more grace. Except for Jaune, he was in a similar situation to him but screaming like a little girl.

'Alright, enough fooling around. We're approaching the ground, so it's time to get to work,' he thought, teleporting to the first bit of ground he saw and landing with an "_Umf."_

When it came to teleportation, the motion of travel becomes null-n-void as locations in space are switched rather than flowing through the space between them. What it doesn't always do though, is drop Gaster off on his feet. It's always the position he was in last before teleporting, in this case he was spinning through the so many like a merry-go-round he got one planting him face-first into the dirt.

"Grrrgh-urggh, _cough-cough_."

Lifting his head, Gaster spat out a couple chunks of dirt and grass. He was _not_ looking to be a cow right now.

As he got up and started dusting himself down with his head still spinning a bit, gunshots echoed through the air followed by shattering trees in the distance.

"I'd better hurry up and find someone if I don't want to miss out on research," he said going, into a sprint before quickly slowing to a stop. "Though, if someone on their own makes eye contact with me, we'll end up becoming a pair, and that would hinder my research."

A bird called overhead, soaring through the sky.

"I'll have to approach this carefully."

**Interlude**

Ruby broke through branches and scattering leaves before landing onto the forest floor then breaking to a run.

"Yang! Yang!" she called at the top of her lungs as the branches and bushes rushed by. Though at this point, panic was setting in and was all a blur.

She just came from soaring through the sky, and now finally on the ground she could team up with Yang. Problem was, she'd flown off to who knows where.

'This is bad. This is really, really bad. What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first?...There's always Jaune. He's funny…but I don't think he'll do well in a fight. Gaster? Always calculative and we've already fought together before… though he'll probably sit back and watch the fight. What about Blake? So calm, so mysterious…plus she likes books. But I don't think I can hold a normal conversation with her. _Blaaahhh, _okay, so who do I know? There's Jaune, Yang, Gaster, Blake aaannnd….."

Mentally reciting the people she knew, a flash of white ahead made Ruby dig here heels in on reflex before skidding to a halt with closed eyes. Peaking open slightly, she came eye-to-eye with the pale blue-eyed Weiss. They didn't look happy.

Weiss quickly turned her back on Ruby and stomped off in the opposite direction.

"W-wait!... We're supposed to be team mates~….," Ruby sighed as she got further away. It wasn't long until Weiss came right back, grabbing Ruby by her hoody and dragged away in the opposite direction she'd come from.

"By no means does this make us friends."

"You came back~!" Ruby cheered, completely disregarding the branches she was pulled through. For a moment, she thought she heard someone sounding like Jaune calling out for help, but she was to happy that Weiss actually accepted her to care.

"You can stop your celebrating," Weiss coldly remarked, hoisting Ruby onto her feet before letting go. "Now walk on your own, I have no intention on being the last person to the ruins and get a bad grade because of you."

"Come on Weiss, it's not going to be that bad. We've only just began and we're making great head-way."

"And I'd like to keep it that way," she shot back.

"Awww, you're paranoid, aren't you?"

"No, I am not. I'm just taking immediate actions so as to properly complete this exam."

"Aannd~ worrying about who gets there first."

"Oh I'm not worried. I know I'll get there in a proper, and a highly regarded fashion."

"_Gugggh~_, I think you already have highly regarded fashion on hand~."

"Are you insulting me?"

"What- No, no I'm not insulting you. I'm just saying that you have a nice sense of style, your dress is very beautiful and….frilly."

"Hmm, I will accept your apology," she boasted with a hum before continuing to lead the way. "But only because you recognise _this_ as proper fashion~."

Ruby whimpered a little at her remark. Her first team mate she was going to spend the next four years at Beacon with. She's…. different, and a little difficult, but if Ruby puts in the effort, the two of them will definitely get along. She has to at least believe that, even if Weiss was a bit of an ice queen with a cold attitude.

Ruby went wide-eyed at realizing what she just did. She just…did she unintentionally make a pun?

Oh no, her dad's genes are starting to kick in! Soon she'll be making puns like Yang and cringe at herself with each one!

As she needlessly panicked, Ruby noticed a looming shadow passing over the forest floor nearby before slowing down to their pace. Looking up, there was nothing above, but when she looked back down the shadow was gone.

Reaching for crescent rose still strapped to her side, she felt a little uneasy. Was there a phantom class grimm in these woods? She spotted the shadow again in the other direction this time, but when she looked again both it and the shadow had disappeared.

**See you all next time, though I don't know if I'll get the next chapter up so quickly. Uni and stuff.**

**Later.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone, now I know there has been a few questions from other people that I'm sure I covered over the previous chapters. One being we people can freak out just by shacking his hand. Honestly thought that obvious when they shack the hand of a literal skeleton. You have to remember that upon entering the timeline, Gaster was subject to its law and was infused with flesh that made him look human, though he isn't completely wrapped by it. **

**Places like his right hand have no flesh, so when people touch it, they're touching the bones of his hand.**

**Chapter 3**

Ozpin and Glynda stood atop the cliff where the students had been launched from the empty launch pads lined behind them. A cold breeze blowed, making Glynda shiver a little. Ozpin on the other hand dressed warmly with a warm cup of coffee in hand paid it no mind.

"Most of the pairs have been formed. Nora Valkrie and Lie Ren just teamed up," Glynda stated, scrolling through live feeds of various parts of the forest. Some had students in them either fighting grimm or on the move, but most were very much empty.

She stopped at seeing a stumbling Jaune Arc fighting a beowolf alongside one Pyrrha Nikos fighting a beowolf. Well, they were fighting together, in a sense. But Jaune was doing next to nothing that could hurt the grimm while Pyrrha was going easy on it to help him improve.

She had a kind heart, even Glynda could see it, but in she couldn't help but think that the girls efforts were somewhat wasted on someone like Jaune. By the way he fought, his skill set was of that next to a novice.

"Poor Mrs Nikos. I don't care what his transcripts say, that Jaune fellow isn't ready for this level of combat," she slid through a few more video feeds, still with a number empty ones. As she kept on scrolling, her eyebrows furrowed at noticing something was amiss. "Hmmmm~. I can't seem to find that Gaster character anywhere. I'm beginning to think he's already gotten himself eaten by a grimm."

"I don't think you need to worry yourself about him too much. I'm sure we'll see him eventually," Ozpin commented, looking at his own tablet with a video feed of Ruby sitting on the ground while Weiss paced herself around trying to establish a common sense of direction.

The whole was a little bit comical to say the least.

It wasn't at all obvious, but behind them a shadow on the ground kept on swerving from one side to the other. It couldn't be a bird or something like that, it always remained behind the Schnee heiress and changed positions every time she turned around to say 'that way was the temple'.

Shame none of the nearby cameras were angled up a bit higher.

"I doubt that," Glynda said, putting away her scroll before walking away from the edge, stopping herself only to turn back to the headmaster. "Another thing, I took a look at the roster and noticed we have an odd number of students this year, so what exactly did you use as relics?"

**Interlude**

Gaster sat cross legged atop a summoned blaster, hovering in the air as he watched Weiss and Ruby argue below. Notebook in hand, he wrote down as many details as he could.

He was at the academy so he could gather data on human semblances, the manifestations of their souls, and right now was a great opportunity for discerning their behaviour. Well, the ones who've unlocked their semblances. Gaster already had a nightmare load of watching humans in the void.

So far, he could tell that for those who've unlocked their auras at least are more expressive than those who haven't. in a manner of speaking, they wore their emotions on their sleeves.

Still observing, Gaster had to constantly make sure he was out of both Weiss and Ruby's line of sight if he wanted pure data. When someone knows their being watched and assessed for their true nature, they subconsciously think they're under attack in some way and that can lead to them putting on a façade.

The students now were going through something similar with initiation, difference is one was for a school of their dreams. What Gaster intended on doing was purely for his work, and as easy as it sounded it annoyingly difficult.

He had to make sure he was always out of both the humans line of sight's, which was tricky considering the human known as Weiss kept pacing back and forth.

'I see, I see… Ruby Rose down there is showing great aptitude for housing a kind soul. Weiss Schnee has a proud and somewhat egocentric-!'

"Whoa!"

The blaster suddenly turned while he was in his thoughts, throwing Gaster off his balance and sliding down the front. Before getting too far he lashed out to one of the horns, grabbing it with one hand and swaying off the side with a firm grip on his note book.

He almost fell off his blaster again trying to get to another position as Weiss turned to face Ruby, which happened to be in his general direction.

As the skull swerved and neared the side of capsizing, Gaster managed to bring himself back up to its eye socket. Heart racing at the sudden precariousness, he found it amusing how it thumped away in its chest.

Normally, it's a sign of a living creatures adrenalin rushing through their veins when faced with a precarious situation. Before, Gaster wasn't in any real danger of falling since he could've just teleported away, but the primal of a beating heart just made him stay a bit longer and see it through to the end.

It was, after all, a totally new experience to him.

That was his first mistake.

Indulging in his heightened blood pressure in areas that could feel it and his accelerated breathing, despite not having lungs, he noticed a little too late his pen slide out from his loosening finger tips.

He quickly swiped at it, failing to catch it with book still in hand, hopelessly kicked it with the neatest foot and did nothing more as he watched it sail down.

Spinning through the air and clacking against some stones below, he noticed the girls attention being drawn to it before they both looked up.

'Ghaa, guess this form of observation's over,' he thought, turning back to the blaster and trying to hoist himself back onto the forehead of the blaster just as he faintly heard someone say grimm. 'Wait, Grimm?'

_Bang!_

A gunshot sounded and Gaster saw in time to see Ruby with her crescent rose extended in full scythe rocket up to him.

In the split second before he was cleaved in two along with his blaster, the doctor teleported to the ground beside Weiss, surprising the young heiress

The sun was behind him, she probably couldn't make him out, quickly teleporting to behind Weiss just in time to see with her Ruby cleave the shadowy make out of his gaster blaster in two.

Well, at least attempt. She packed pretty good wallop from where he stood but it wasn't enough to break the skull. He let it disappear all the same though just to give her the satisfaction. Before she hit the ground.

"You've got quick judgement calls," he commented, earning surprised jumps from the other two.

"Gaster!?"

"How long have you been there?"

"For a while now. Surprised you didn't notice me sooner, but I guess I can't blame you," he said walking over to pick up his pen before sliding it into his notebook

"Were you spying on us?" Weiss accused, sounding insulted.

"Spying is a very strong, and _accurate_ assumption."

The two girls were a little taken back by this. Ruby shuffled away while Weiss took a whole step back.

"I never took you for _that_ type of person, Gaster."

"How else am I supposed to collect valuable data? And while I've finished research on Ruby, I still need-," he turned to Weiss. "-More data from you and about your semblance."

Weiss paled a bit more than she already was, reaching for her rapier.

"Wait a minute. Gaster, are you saying that for this entire time, you haven't made any attempts to find a partner?" Ruby asked, coming forward, surprising them both.

"Well no. I don't really see the point in doing such a thing, simply because there are an odd number of students in this initiation. If you counted up the total and went with the fact that each huntsman team in an education is commonly comprised of four people, then that leaves either one additional or less person in one of the groups this year. Ergo I saw a great opportunity to collect some data."

"But that's-."

"You didn't spend a single moment in trying to find someone else?" Weiss snapped at Gaster's statement. "Aren't you the least bit serious about becoming a huntsman?"

"Not in the slightest, no," he flatly responded, shocking Weiss at the mere blankness of the answer.

"Then why are you here, wasting everyone's time and efforts for a no-good nobody like you?! If you've been watching us the whole time, then you haven't even lifted a single finger to fight. _Hmm_, makes sense I guess, the ones who spend the most just sitting back tend to be the weakest."

"Weiss, please just came down!" Ruby cried, trying to come in between them.

"No Ruby. If someone's attending a huntsman academy, then that means they're seeking to become a huntsman. Even you must see there's no merit in someone attending something as high and proud as Beacon if all they're going to do is waste everyone's time sitting around!"

"On the contrary, I'm attending this academy to return home, and let me tell you, the efforts of the tutors and staff here are something I very much respect. As for my strength," he began, crossing his arms. "That's something I'm willing to let you decide."

Weiss was fuming at this point, Ruby was barley able to hold her back anymore. Gaster could see that he wasn't doing anything to help defuse the situation.

'If I'm hated this much by the other students here, then it's going to be hard to maintain a neutral relationship with them.'

"_Huh, _alright. I see you're a little distressed by my response-."

"Really, and how do figure that? Did you watch in silence for too?"

"-so I'll help you find the temple," he finished, ignoring Weiss's insulative question.

"Don't bother. We'll find it on our own, come on Ruby," she spat marching off and leaving her team mate wide-eyed in worry, turning between them both.

Still feeling somewhat responsible for Weiss's mood, Gaster pointed in a direction a little way off to where Weiss was going.

She gave a smile before running off after he fuming partner trying to slow her down and leaving Gaster alone in the forest.

"I hope they find their way to the temple, for their own sake at least," he mused, making his way in another direction in hopes of finding another set of unsuspecting students he could gleam more aura and semblance data off of.

Or as the girls called it, spying. But as a scientist, such a mediocre term held no meaning for.

Of course, he wasn't planning to base his entire research on simple field observations. At some point he'll need to consider a more direct and thorough examination.

Maybe he could consider approaching Atlas at least. He'd stand to gain a better chance gathering information from a proud institute such as that than apposed to starting from scratch here.

A shadow flew by in the nearby trees, Gaster on reflex summoned all seven of his hands before teleporting to the nearby base of one of the trees.

Had he found another student, and so soon? If they were alone, he wouldn't appreciate having to team up with them.

Peaking around the corner to where he assumed the figure had moved to, Gaster was both surprised and intrigued by what he saw. The figure wasn't human or faunus, but grimm, and by the way how it floated through the air without any legs and was as taller that he was with a bone mask on its face with a singular eye in the middle, he deduced it to be a phantom class grimm. A geist.

Or at least one close to it.

'Interesting. Now that I think about it, I've been researching through so many books and are now just beginning to look into this timeline's souls, I've never once considered to look into a grimm before,' he tried to read the spectres soul, quickly finding nothing there to begin with. 'A living creature without a soul to speak of. This is getting even more interesting, normally everything needs a soul in order to be considered 'living', or even have a conscious to think for itself, to an extent.'

As the grimm was about to disappear into the thick undergrowth, Gaster took the moment, teleported straight up to behind the creature with hands at the ready and using kindness to encase it into a clear glowing green ball.

Startled in its new prison, the geist glanced around before bashing away at the inside walls, swirling around inside like blood in water.

"You are _feisty_, aren't you?" the doctor mused aloud, pocking the sphere barrier before shrinking its size, compressing and restricting the grimm until it got the point where it could hardly move any more. "Understanding souls and delving into the research of it is my speciality, but how does one live without one?"

It glared back at the doctor with its singular eye.

"Even restricted by the materials as I am now, I'm sure we came gleam something from you~."

It made a sound like snarl before the grimm's eye glowed a dull yellow before letting out a piercing screech that threatened to make Gaster cover his ears from the high pitch.

"_Drghh_, shut it!" he snapped, forcing the bubble barrier to slam against the ground and giving the grimm a good jar before bringing it up to eye level, glaring at the phantom. "Whether that was a threat or an attack, I'm not letting you go until I get something good out of you."

The two continued glaring at each other as the trees around them groaned in the wind, expecting the grimm's situation to sink in.

Suddenly, something sunk into him. Looking around, Gaster realized the trees were groaning as if in the wind, but there wasn't any.

The forest stood tall and firm without swaying, nothing alarming at first, but then he noticed it. One of the closest trees was beginning to blacken like ink, branches, leaves, everything about it was blackening. The rest of the trees in the area followed, blackening in just the same manner.

Just as soon as a tree was engulfed by the blackness, the centre at its trunk bulged out, protruding and wriggling out with the inky substance sucking away from the tree. Bone thin arms with claws split out followed by the ironical bone white mask with one eye developing at the end of it right before the thin detached itself with a squelching _plop_.

The same thing happened with all the darkened trees, returning to their original colour once the gerists left their trunks.

"So, you were calling for help," Gaster deduced as the loose grimm flew through the air, whispers on the wind in sharp hisses, easily number to the hundreds. The lone captive wasn't glaring at the doctor anymore, but now following the others as they begun encircling the both of them in a dome of shadows. "And they actually seem coordinated."

They all flooded in at once, closing in barley giving Gaster enough time to teleport himself with his captive to the other side. The the mass of phantoms closing in spilled out like a fountain, spiralling up before contorting in the air and coming right at the scientist.

He teleported again, to the place where he first started observing Ruby and Weiss, an empty part of the forest. It didn't take long for the rustling of trees and wailing in the wind to grow from simple silence and the hundreds of geist's swirling from the depths of the forest.

"So, they can follow me. This is going to be more trouble than I thought."

This went on longer than Gaster would like, teleporting from one part of the forest to another, only for the swarm of called grimm to find him no one time.

It was annoying, but Gaster quickly found they were tracking him from his captive.

He considered jumping out the forest and into a more secure location, but if he ended up in an inhabited area and they chased him, he'd have more trouble to deal with. Hundreds of grimm striking a city at once might not go well in the long run.

Just think of all the mechanical and dust shops that could be lost in all the chaos. There was a nagging feeling in Gaster's head, was there something else that could be lost? The people?

Nah~.

Despite his teleporting, Gaster wasn't getting anywhere by just evading the problem. He had to put a stop this, he had to get rid of these nuisances before anymore magic was wasted on teleporting.

"Alright then, these things act as one, meaning in the woods I'm at a disadvantage to deal with them efficiently," he mulled over, teleporting again to perch in the branches of a tree to think before the grimm found him again. "I do believe there was a wide-open space surrounding the relics, and since only paired children will be there, I won't have to worry about being forced to team up with them. Then again, not all the first years are skilled enough to deal with this many."

The screaming cries of the oncoming phantoms were growing louder, making the doctor cringe in annoyance and give a death glare at his captive. The lone eye in the centre of the bone mask glared back at him.

"Keeping you with me is more trouble than I expected," he spat, letting his hold go on the barrier and the geist instantly shooting away at the opportunity, darting between the trees with a trail of black smoke close behind. "I have more important things than to catch now what I can later."

A couple of moments, but the screaming and wailing of the grimm continued like before, still growing louder.

Gaster was a little taken back as the swarm blasted through the trees towards him, catching a glimpse of the one he released in the lead.

He teleported from his perch to the skies above, getting a clear view of the forest with the ground between the trees, pulsating with dark grimm like an infected blood system.

Easily numbering to the hundreds, they surged from below the tree branches like rising pillars towards Gaster. This was becoming a bother, and he'd had just about enough of this little play.

He intended using this initiation to collect field samples from semblance users, like hell he was going to let a distraction like this keep him from it. If he was going to take care of this problem, he was going to do it with extreme prejudice.

Focusing, he brought up the magic within his soul, leaving just enough for his pieces of flesh to remain alive. His eyes flashed purple as he summoned a platform of kindness below him, landing on it with light feet.

Keeping the rest of his hands by his side he snapped his bone fingers and three gaster blaster skulls with rid eyes manifested themselves around him angled down. No time was waisted as their jaws snapped back and red energy blasted out to the incoming grimm.

They swerved to avoid but a good number of them immediately vaporised leaving flakes of ash behind. Gaster wasn't going to let up, firing shots after shots at the grimm as the pillars broke away and their moves became erratic.

Keeping the blasters trained on the larger bodies of grimm, Gaster pulled up his hands determination, justice, courage and integrity, hurling blue rings trailing loose phantoms, bombs around the area and barrages of red and yellow blasts.

This was actually getting a little serious, and for the doctor, he was finding a hint of joy in it. Adrenaline coursing through what little veins he had, he was finding it fun to be kept on his toes like this, to be in battle.

He wasn't a heartened battle warrior like Undine, nor was he a pacifist like Alphys. All the same, he couldn't help but feel alive again in this moment, after a tedious week of nothing before a lifetime in hell.

In his reminisces, a small horde came at him from behind only to be vaporized completely by a fourth summoned blaster skull.

"Don't think you can catch me off guard," he sneered with gleaming purple eyes to the surrounding grimm and a widening grin on his face. "I may be old, a little rusty at times. But if you think I'm going to stand by and let you impede me, then you had better be ready for the consequences!"

Eight more blaster were summoned in a ring around him, hands withdrawn and an explosive blast from the surrounding skulls shot out to all the grimm surrounding him.

When it was over, the hundred or so grimm that remained retreated back to the forest below, disappearing into the soil, leaving Gaster alone in the sky in silence.

Normally it's at moments like this that would cause for a celebration, and three hundred years ago he probably would've, but Gaster knew better. Deep below in his metaphorical gut, he felt that things were just about to get worse.

**Interlude**

Back at the cliff's edge, Ozpin watched from a monitor in hand as the geist's slipped into the earth, concern mildly etched onto his face.

Glynda, on the other hand, was still staring wide eyed at the miniscule dot in the distance that was supposedly Gaster just floating in the air after pushing back the grimm.

When the self-proclaimed human was teleporting around the forest, they'd been able to find him a few times, and just in time to see him capture the grimm and release it. They still didn't have cameras angled to the sky, so they couldn't get a clear image of what had happened, but even from this distance it was easy to get an impression.

Especially if a rogue laser shot were to strike the cliff face where they stood and nearly fry them both in its wake.

"He's very powerful, I can see now why he'd want to keep some things secret," Ozpin noted with a nod.

Glynda snapped to him with shock.

"Is that all you can say? I'm more concerned about the geist's suddenly appearing in the forest than I am a student flying in the air on green light. I thought we noted their numbers to be less than a couple dozen or so. Having well near a thousand of them all grouped together like this is too dangerous, even in an initiation. How'd they get here without us knowing it?"

"This forest was here before the construction of Beacon," the headmaster deduced, still watching the screen before taking a sip from his mug in hand. "A few might've slipped in to the trees and gone dormant for a time, and with new students going in, being afraid, over time could've attracted new grimm, or even spawned others near it that also fell dormant in trees."

"If that's it, I find it hard to believe this many grimm never reacted," Glynda replied with a somewhat doubtful tone.

"It's just a theory after all," Ozpin noted, as he looked down to his monitored to see the soil in the screens begin to blacken with a thin dark mist rising from it.

Soon the trees began shacking violently with a couple threatening to uproot themselves. Even from where the two stood they could feel the rising tremors from the Emerald forest.

"But the real danger of these phantom class grimm aren't their ability to go into a dormant state, if anything, it's their ability to possess objects."

At his words, the ground in the distance erupted like a volcano, kicking up dust and sending a multitude of their camera feeds offline. A three fingered hand broke through the cloud, slamming into the earth followed by another as though something was trying to pick itself up.

A pure blade of granite rose as well attached to an arm, accompanied by a mace life object with trees all over it as more of the giant became clear. A round boulderer body stepped forwards on a torso with cylindrical legs stepped forward.

Two arms with hands mounted on top of it with weaponized limbs on its lower half. Three gleaming eyes as slits shone on the face of it above a mouth cracked around the front side into a smile.

A piercing bellow echoed out like an earthquake amplified by the sharp scraping of rusted steel against steel from the beast.

Despite the winds and the giant in the forest standing well above the cliff they stood upon, Glynda was somewhat composed compared to a few minutes ago.

"Do you believe the new students can handle this on their own without all dying?" Glynda question, reaching for her crop at her side while still looking to the earth giant made of the hundreds of geists inside.

"It's our job as teachers to believe that our students can do something like that," Ozpin replied as the granite sword cleaved into the forest, picking up trees and flinging them up at the spec that was Gaster as he flew through the air, multicoloured lasers firing and gouging into the giant. "So let us believe that they can. All of them, after all, someone alone can only do so much until they realize they need a little help."

**Interlude**

Pushing through leaves and snapping twigs, Yang broke through from the forest's edge to a clearing where the ruins stood with Blake closely behind her. The two had managed to find each other a little earlier on, so naturally they became the first half of their team.

"So I'm guessing this is where we need to be," Blake said.

"Looks like it," Yang chirped before the two paced to the centre of the ruins where waist high pillars encircled. "How many ruins could there possibly be here?"

As the two looked around, taking in everything around them, they noticed the small pieces mounted on a number of the pillars. Most of which one of two colours, black or gold.

"Chess pieces?" Blake queried.

"Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

"Well I guess we should pick one."

A few moments passed till Yang snatched a piece. "How about a cute little pony?"

Before Blake could even respond, a crying shriek pierced through the air.

"Gya-_Arrrrggghhhh-ha-haaa~!"_

"Did you hear that? Some girls in trouble," Yang said, looking to where the echoing voice might've come from. "What should we do?"

Instead of answering, Blake was looking up to the sky and pointed to a flailing girl who turned out to be a Ruby screaming "Heads uuuuuuuup!" at the top of her lungs.

In the next instant before either could do anything, a hurtling screaming Jaune came flying out of nowhere and slammed right into Ruby and knocking them both into a nearby tree.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked, glancing from a dizzying Ruby perched in a tree to Yang who was also looking to the tree.

"I think she-."

Yang was interrupted by the thundering of trees breaking apart followed by roars of hatred mixed with pain. An Ursa on its hind legs trampled out the forest nearby with an orange haired girl in pink riding its back.

"Yeeeee-Haaaa~," she whooped as another explosion sounded, the grimm crashing to the ground with a thud. Its rider less than pleased. "Awww, it's broken~."

As she wined, another person came out from behind her panting and clearly exhausted, begging Nora not to go through that again. But before he could get any form of intelligent response, Nora had sped over to the ruins and was eyeing a golden rook piece.

Snatching it up she started celebrating, singing a children's king of the castle song, only interpreted as being the queen. She was cut short by her partner calling her back who she called Ren with a childish giggle.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?"

Before even forming a sentence, a thundering earthquake interruptedly shook them.

Looking to the horizon above the trees, they managed to see a lumbering giant made of earth with trees sticking out of it in various places with three red eyes and black aura hazily lingering off it.

A distant figure flew around it with colourful projectiles flying at it, even managing to blast a chunk off its arm.

"Is, that a, grimm?"

"I think that's a geist possession."

"That's a pretty big geist."

They were again interrupted by the shacking and crashing of trees getting closer until Pyrrha came rushing with a giant scorpion like grimm came rushing after her.

"Did she just come running all the way here with a deathstalker on her tail?"

Another thunderous clap in the distance and something blurred green came hurtling from the skies before slamming into the deathstalker's back. Ricocheting off it and crashing into the ruins stone work, kicking up dust and sending the grimm crashing back into the trees itself.

As it cleared, a figure covered in a green aura pulled himself out as it faded quickly.

"_Gargh_, now _that_, didn't see coming," Gaster groaned rubbing his head. His coat and trousers had scuff marks all over with a couple of tears in places.

"W-where'd you come from," Yang called out.

The monster in human skin looked back to the human with duo coloured eyes with a hint of annoyance in them.

"That's not exactly something I'd like to answer about after getting hit by a mountain."

"A what?"

Another thunderous earthquake shook the ground as everyone noticed the behemoth in the distance slowly walking towards them with each step as slow as a beach wave but with enough power to feel all the way to the ruins.

"It's coming this way," Blake said, sounding a little worried.

"Wow, what did you do to get on that things bad side?" Nora called to Gaster as he dusted himself off.

"The fact you think I got on its bad side means you think I incurred its wrath, but that would mean it'd have a soul to experience emotions. Do you think grimm have emotions?" he asked, crossing his arms with a raised eyebrow.

Nora just pouted at the question she got out of her question. "Jeez, someone doesn't know how to take a joke~."

From where she was sent flying by Jaune, Ruby leaped from the trees before landing with a roll up to Yang before popping up with her arms spread wide for her sister.

"Ruby?"

"Yang!"

The two went to high five but were interrupted by Nora popping up between them excitedly.

"Nora!"

A shadow loomed over them for the briefest moment, drawing everyone to look up and see the nevermore flying overhead with Weiss clinging to one of its talons while flailing in the wind.

Very faintly, her yells of frustration at being left alone could be heard in the wind. She was very high up, and it was very faint.

"I said jump," Ruby called, sounding a little worried.

"Not everyone has the same jumping habits you apparently do, Ruby," Gaster commented before sticking a thumbs up to her. "Nice job getting here so quickly though. I never would've thought you'd ride a nevermore."

"Gaster? How'd you get here so quickly?"

"I was sent flying, in a manner of speaking."

Still with a questioning look, everyone turned back to Weiss, who'd now let go of her unpaid ride.

"She's falling," Ren commented.

"She'll be fine," Ruby tried reassuring.

'Well of course she'd be fine, the girl did manage to survive a launch from a cliff by catapult, what's a little fall from the clouds going to do?' Gaster thought, silently considering if he should catch her with one of his hands.

It'd be a waste to lose a potential specimen on the first day, but after his own troubles with the geist horde he'd consumed nearly a full quarter of his existing magic, and with his flesh needing some of it to be maintained, he had to use it sparingly and recover as much as he could.

Still deciding, Jaune, who'd been hanging in the trees tree leapt out.

Instantly making the decision, Gaster summoned his hands and watched Jaune surprisingly catch Weiss in the air with grace. It even made him look a bit knightly.

For the briefest of moments, it looked like everything was okay, but no. No, the two kept falling hard.

Whipping out tendrils from his patience and snaring them around a tree opposite him, Gaster quickly made a makeshift safety net below them. Weiss and Jaune landed right into it, dipping down before the both started rolling down it and falling right off with light thuds.

Weiss was able to pick herself up quickly, a little dizzy while Jaune laid on the ground looking like he might end up losing his lunch.

"Th-thanks man~," Jaune managed to stutter as Gaster swore he saw a flare of aura go across the human's body.

Curious, he focused passed the flesh in his sockets and looked into Jaune's soul.

He almost lost his composure at what he saw, the boy had managed to unlock his aura and project his soul. Granted, it wasn't his semblance that'd been unlocked, but this was still a major development for his research, and he missed it!

Best he could tell, it happened sometime around when he and Pyrrha were alone together and she managed to help Jaune unlock it.

'Dammit, I'll have to find some way to make up for this later,' he inwardly cursed, letting his focus relax and couldn't see Jaunes soul anymore.

"What the hell was that?" Weiss suddenly accused, drawing the doctor's attention as she struggled to find her footing before marching right up to him and standing just under his chin.

"A little safety net," Gaster bluntly answered, letting his hands dematerialize as a roar sounded from the deathstalker emerging from the trees after Gaster hit into it and started chasing after Pyrrha again.

"I didn't need your help."

"Strictly speaking, it was more for him than you," he motioned to a dizzy Jaune staggering to his feet. "His spine wouldn't have survived you landing on him."

"Are you implying that I'm heavy?" Weiss huffed.

"Am I not?"

Before Weiss could even press the issue further, gunshots drew their attention to Pyrrha facing off against the recovered deathstalker with her spear collapsed to a rifle form before leaping over a swipe by one of its pincers and countered by the second. She narrowly managed to block a stick from the glowing yellow stinger but was caught by one of the pincers and sent flying over to the ruins, stumbling over herself and unable to right herself before sliding up in front of the grouping students

"Great, now we can die together," Yang sarcastically declared as Pyrrha picked herself up.

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Ruby pulled out her scythe and fired a shot backwards, propelling her straight for the deathstalker and striking at its head before getting knocked back by a counter pincer.

"Ah-Don't worry, totally fine," she reassured yards away in a shacking voice until turning around coming face to face with the coal burning eyes on the clearly bigger monster.

Whatever levels the others had of being convinced by her argument plummeted. So nothing really changed.

Ruby shot off a round at the grimms head and jumping back a bit at the force, which really just pissed it off before she broke out into a run back to the others. The deathstalker giving chase with the nevermore that been circling above coming in as well at the possible panic everyone was emitting.

Even the behemoth was closing in on them.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled, dashing towards her sister.

'Run, run, run little Yang,' Gaster thought to himself, still hanging back to recover the magic he spent as the scene unfolded before him. 'I'd hate to see you lose your sister on the first day of school.'

As little red kept sprinting back to them with the deathstalker charging after her, the nevermore flying overhead banked in the air before sharply flapping its wings in Ruby's direction. The little girl barley had time to react as a hail of feathers three times as big as Gaster came raining down on her.

Quills piercing the ground in a fine line, one caught Ruby by the hoody yanking her back in place.

"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang cried as she tried to manoeuvre around the standing quills.

"I'm trying!"

Struggling to get her hood free, the deathstalker easily walked up to Ruby, towering over her with a sharp hiss and stinger waving above its head.

Gaster was just about to consider stepping in till Weiss who'd been standing with the others a moment ago shot forward like a lightning bolt with white glyphs appearing just before and after her. Racing past Yang and managing to make it in time to freeze the stinger in its tracks by a huge block of ice.

"Hoh~, impressive," the doctor mused as the two talked to each other. Funnily enough, it wasn't as hostile this time. "The ice is dust created, but that speed is something else, with those glyphs. That little girls' semblance might be more interesting to look into than I originally thought~."

Quickly taking out his book and jolting down the note, he tried to ignore the looming shadow and increasingly heavy footsteps of the geist cluster behemoth.

"Guys, that thing's circling back, and that big one's almost on top of us," Jaune called worried. "What are we going to do?"

"Look, there's no sense in dily-dalling. Our objective is right in front of us," Weiss exclaimed

"She's right," Ruby agreed. "Our mission is to grab an artefact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live, that is an idea I can get behind."

As Ruby and Jaune went to collect their pieces, Gaster snapped his book shut before coming up and blocking their wake.

"You might be able to, I can't," Gaster declared looking to the students. "To simply run away from the grimm would be a complete violation of what you're all wanting to achieve. To let one live, could mean a life lost."

Gaster wasn't one to play the 'guilt trip' card, but he wasn't simply going to let this end without him gaining more information from these kids. There may be more in the forest, but he had no intention wasting more magic trying to find them.

"Are you out of your mind?" Weiss declared in her stubborn tone. "We can't waste time in a fight with these things, and chances are we might get hurt."

A crashing pillar of stone destroyed the edge of the clearing and nearly shacking everyone off their feet. Everyone looked up in time to see the behemoth bringing down a blade of granite upon them.

Most of the eight were quick to get ready but a green barrier stretching well over them blocked the strike with a deafening crackle, cracking the barrier ever so slightly.

Blake looked to Gaster holding up an arm with one of his skeletal hands glowing green beside it before two other came flying from behind him, red and dark blue.

A red beam blasted from one, striking the base joint while the other fired a pair of dark blue rings from the other whizzing straight for the joints. One struck the weakened spot, severing off the sword arm while the other went for the knee, gorging between the thin rock joints and severing it.

Tripping the giant off balance without its leg, geists spewed out from the loose limbs before flying to the mass as it fell to the ground with a crash.

"Are you huntsman, or children?" Gaster asked, letting the barrier disappear and his hands float by his sides in clenched fists. "Cuz the way I see it, you're certainly sullying my expectations."

The eight of them stood shocked by what they saw, but Ruby was one of the first to collect herself before standing before him.

"We're not huntsman yet, but that's why we're here and we don't care what you think," she stated with conviction in her silver eyes. "I understand what you mean, but it won't mean much if we take on something that can easily be avoided with nothing to gain from it."

Gaster just looked back at her, still unyielding in his statement.

"And besides," Yang spoke up, taking the initiative and moving up next to her sister with a smile. "It's not like we're letting these things go to destroy a town or something. This place is basically the backyard of Beacon Academy, there's no way they'd let anything in here just waltz out."

The doctor let out a sigh, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

'That's it, these kids are way too stubborn to convince, and with reasons like those, the others will probably be think the same….These children~.'

"Fine," he said, opening his eyes and looking to the others. "Fine, if that's what you're set on then I guess there really isn't much else I can do."

Most nodded and Yang shot him a thumbs up with a wide grin.

Jaune and Ruby went over to two of the pillars taking their own pieces. Gaster also went over, skimming over the pedestals. It was interesting, they were all different but a few times double ups of pieces come up.

'Pick one and come back to the cliff's,' Ozpin's words recited in Gasters head before giving a smirk. 'You have an interesting approach at discerning teams, Ozpin.'

Gaster's gaze came to rest on a grey bishop looking piece. It had the same build as one with a cloth like design wrapped around it, and instead of a single piece clipped out of the head, carved in cracks ran half-way from the top down on the left side and half-way from the bottom up on the right.

The implications made the doctor laugh.

"Alright, let's go," Ruby announced before turning and running towards the direction of the cliffs with the others close behind.

Gaster was about to follow them, but the grinding of stone and hissing made him turn to see the geist cluster behemoth getting back up newly constructed leg and lower left arm. Only instead of wielding granite sword, it was a giant double headed granite axe.

The deathstalker had also broken out its ice and now coming after with the nevermore close behind.

"It's a good thing these kids are fast on their feet," Gaster mused, teleporting just in time to avoid a strike from the deathstalker to just behind the students before forming a hovering circular disk with kindness under his feet.

He easily kept pace with behind them surfing on the disk with his other six hands at the ready for a pre-emptive strike.

"Or else they'd really be in trouble."

He wasn't keen using his magic like this, but if he wasn't willing then there was no way he'd properly be able to observe the potential fight about to occur. After all, if one wasn't going to occur on its own, he was damn certain he'd trigger it.

It didn't take long until the cliffs came into view, and aside from the pursuing grimm from behind, there wasn't any real trouble.

The nevermore swooped a fair way ahead at the peak of the ruins, almost like the crumbling castle was its nest.

"Looks like we'll have to fight that thing after all," Jaune panted with a hint of remorse.

Gaster couldn't help but let out a 'told you so' under his breath. He didn't intend on anyone hearing it, but the way how Blake's ribbon twitched against wind vectors and looking over her shoulder to him. He wasn't holding his breath.

Suddenly Blake's eyes shot straight to the skies behind him.

"Incoming!" she yelled at the top of her lungs as a boulder as big as a freight train came flying overhead, crashing into the bridge and causing everyone to skid to a stop just before the crumbling stone work. The ancient bridge crumbled under the weight of the boulder and collapsed into the foggy ravine below.

"Well that's helpful," Weiss said in drawn out in sarcasm.

Dropping his barrier pad and himself, Gaster looked to the behemoth where it held in one hand mounted on top its body a boulder roughly the same size as hurled at them before.

'Throwing rocks to compensate for lack of speed, these grimm are smart.'

The giant pulled back before hurling the boulder in a shot-put throw right at them. Gaster turned to the side expecting another notice from Blake but met with a Weiss rushing past him to stand in front before stabbing her rapier into the ground, creating a large white glyph under the approaching deathstalker.

The flying boulder changed course ever so slightly, arching from heading towards them to falling down onto the deathstalker.

But it wasn't enough, the boulder was too big for Weiss's glyph to handle and instead sailed into the forest by them, barrelling through trees before breaking out the other end and falling into the ravine.

Some pitched hissing drew everyone to the deathstalker almost on top of on them.

"Nora!"

"Right~."

The humans Gaster identified as Nora and Ren charged right the deathstalker with warhammer and sickle guns in hand.

"Still think fighting's avoidable at this point?"

"Shut up~," Yang droned to the doctor as Ruby looked from the nevermore ahead then to the grimm behind and back again.

"What'cha thinking, sis?"

Ruby hummed a little longer, turning from one direction to the other like she was watching a game of tennis. It was starting to get a bit irritating.

"I think we can take em," she said abruptly to her sister.

"Hey, um, I'm not one to be a downer or anything," Jaune started. "But are you sure we can?"

"Well of course we can, with the right planning and coordination, we can take these things down easily," Weiss boasted. There was a slight hint that the whole planning and coordination part might just be her telling people what to do an expecting them to follow it.

"She's right, and I think splitting up is the best way to deal with it," Pyrrha spoke up.

There were nods around, her words even giving Jaune a little boost of courafe before Ruby spoke up.

"Okay, Pyrrha, Jaune, you've got the deathstalker. Yang, Blake, you take care of the nevermore. The rest of us will take on that behemoth."

"Excuse me, but why are we getting the biggest of the lot?" Weiss called to the girl in red, clearly not having it with the decision made, even taking Ruby back.

"Ah-w-well," she stuttered, trying to word the reason she had in her head. It wasn't easy to be suddenly put on the spot like this for her.

"Because I know how the geist cluster was made, and considering I've already severed a limb off it before, the firepower I can muster is sufficient enough to break it," Gaster began, standing before the heiress and easily reaching over her height with a scolding expression. He looked like a parent explaining to their child why they shouldn't break the antique vase after they've just trashed the whole set. "But going in it alone can be seen as conventional suicide for most. So it'd make sense to include others who can deal with large attacks and possess sufficient agility. Was it something like that you trying to say?"

Turning to Ruby for conformation, she was a little bit bare for words before gathering herself together to give a quick series of nods.

"Alright, looks like we have a battle plan," Jaune declared, suddenly looking like he was filling with new determination and resolve.

The idea of there being a plan at all was probably all he needed to go into battle. The sudden turn from startled and cautious human to looking like a hardened soldier even made Gaster blink a few times to check his eyes were working.

You could never be too sure when you have eyes are on loan.

"Alright, let's go Pyrrha," Jaune motioned, drawing his sword and brining his shield out in front of him before charging after Ren and Nora on the deathstalker with the red-haired amazoness closely following behind with a smile on her face and her own shield the spear in hand.

"Let's go."

"Right!"

As Blake and Yang charged towards the nevermore, leaving Weiss, Ruby and Gaster with each other, the three of them began running towards their target with Gaster back on his kindness pad.

"Don't slow me down just because you're not running right now," Weiss huffed back at him.

"Ahh~, come on Weiss, don't be like that," Ruby chirped ahead, seeing how the heiress hadn't yet forgiven what Gaster said earlier.

The behemoth lifted its tree mace arm before bringing it down to the ground in a thunderous explosion sending a shockwave traveling straight for them.

Before the two could even react, Weiss and Ruby found their waist's bound in light blue tendrils leading to a hole in a floating skeleton hand.

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it~," Gaster smirked, still getting glared at by Weiss before effectively snatching them off their feet with the threads, spinning both around a couple of times before effectively sling-shotting the two right into the sky above the ground shockwave.

Ruby cried out in joy as they soared with Weiss glaring back as collapsing trees and bellowing dust swallowing everything behind them out of sight, including their shooter.

"Such inappropriate behaviour!"

"He's just trying to help, Weiss."

"That is not the issue here!"

She wasn't worried about him though. More annoyed by the fact that a good for nothing like him had the audacity to suddenly embrace her without her consent and proceed to throw her like it was a game of baseball!

Even the fact her supposed partner wasn't taking this seriously enough was just unbelievable.

The next time she got her hands on him he was so getting an earful.

Their travels were short lived as Weiss and Ruby noticed their destination rapidly approaching. The behemoth's head.

Taking the initiative, Weiss spun her rapier revolver to fire dust while Ruby unslung her scythe as a box before both let loose a barrage of shots to the grimm, each exploding on the surface and effect doubling as a cushioning fall for Weiss before skidding across the surface of its top.

Ruby on the other hand lost some velocity, veering straight for one of its upper arms before extending crescent rose into its scythe, hooking around the armpit and slinging herself up to the head by her partner. Landing easily with gleeful giggle on her face.

"Seriously, can you not take this more seriously?"

"I am taking this seriously, but how often is it that you get thrown at a giant grimm over a wave of desolation with your very own team mate~?" Ruby chirped with sparkles in her eyes, still too hyper for the heiress's liking. The girls smile quickly died as what she'd just said dawned on her. "Do you think Gaster would be alright from that."

The flames around them died, exposing that the two hadn't made any real damage prior to their landing shots to the stone surface. Just a couple of cracks and crumbling pieces.

Hardly the achievement in Weiss's eyes.

"I wouldn't worry about him," Weiss spoke up as the black haze blanketing over the surface suddenly thickened, and a giest suddenly shot from it before elongating themselves straight for them.

Bucking and weaving, Weiss managed to evade the arms and get into a position for a counter strike, thrusting and piecing through the arms, effectively dismembering the limbs before Ruby shot herself forward with her scythe carving right into its singular eye on the mask and splitting it in two.

"We have bigger problems of our own," she finished, glancing back to the grimm to see it flake away.

At its disappearance, the whole head they stood upon began shacking, bobbing up and down in rhythm. Ruby rushed to the edge, glancing over to see the behemoth was on the move again.

It looked like it was marching towards the deathstalker against Jaune and the others.

"I think it's moving to back up the other grimm," Ruby deduced as Weiss came up beside her who looked like the news was beginning to irritate her. "We have to deal with it before it makes trouble for the others."

"Well then let's give this big oaf something else to focus on," dashing to the centre of the head and spinning her revolver again till it landed on ice dust, Weiss plunged her rapier square into the dirt. A freezing explosion of frost burst out, chilling Ruby in its breeze and reaching all the way to bases of the upper arms and effectively freezing them in place.

A cold head if there ever was one.

The ice wasn't holding up, crack lines were already beginning to snake across the ice.

The behemoth let out a low bearing growl before stomping a foot onto the ground, shattering the weakened ice like glass in a full-blown tremor up itself that threatened to through the two off their feet. Ruby had to bury the head of her own weapon into the ice to avoid slipping off the top.

The sound of cracking stone amongst the ice drew their attention to see various points on the head crack and break. Had Weiss's ice weakened them?

The dark haze above the points thickened, and even more geist's burst up from them, numbering to a dozen or so.

These numbers might a bit of problem for them as the two yanked their weapons free of the stone and ice. Moving back-to-back as the geist encircled them, keeping their distance with clawed hands on long bony arms at the ready.

In their focus on the geist, grinding stone made the two of them spare a glance to see the free stone arms move to squash them from above.

Ruby opened her mouth to speak, and the grimm suddenly all rushed them in the moment of distraction as hands were coming at them the same time.

Ruby managed to parry a swipe followed up by an upward leap to avoid another as Weiss stabbed the back of a hand followed by a strike to the masked face before also jumping to avoid a slash.

The two midair mistimed and managed to run right into each other and effectively throwing the other off their balance.

"Watch it!" Weiss berefted, managing to stick her landing on the melting ice as Ruby upturned her crescent rose and fired a shot through the chest of geist and effectively launching her into the air above the oncoming hands.

"Sorry~," she called before disappearing over them.

This was going to be tricky. Gathering herself up, Weiss summoned a glyph at her feet before turning it black and effectively creating a pushing force throwing her skyward into the air and narrowly missing the remaining geist's rushing her before leaping from one oncoming massive hand and weaving through the rapidly closing stone fingers of the other the size of four trees strapped together.

Flying up into the air as the hands slammed onto the head, shattering whatever ice remained, the skies were clear, with the exception of a kid in red as company. Annoyingly.

A shadow loomed over the both of them, glancing around, a geist much bigger than the ones below was coming right at them. Somehow managing to appear without them noticing with the cover of the possessed appendages.

It struck out, with claws more vicious than the others carving right at them.

Weiss's rapier was built for stabbing attacks, not for blocking heavy strikes, so when the claws landed, she took the full brunt of it leaving her aura to flare up and take most of the damage, landing with a thump on the back of one of the stone hands.

But it wasn't over, the geist went straight for Ruby this time who managed to bloke one of the strikes, weave by the second in a flourish of petals behind it before being caught by hand snapping backwards and grabbing her from behind and slamming her right on the hand with Weiss.

With what assumed to be a snarl sounding like a husked cry of agony from the geist, Weiss noticed a small orange sphere, floating behind its head. It looked like a ping-pong ball. How long had that been there?

It flashed bright orange before exploding and effectively blasting the geist in the back of the head making bow in a jolt like it'd been punched with a cry that sounded more of agony than a snarl.

The next moment, familiar tendrils whipped from behind the grimm snaking around its head, wrists and neck before snapping backwards and making its back bend a full ninety degrees with its spine. Maybe even a bit more with cracking bones sounding like trees splintering.

It got to the point that even for a phantom class grimm like this, it looked excruciatingly painful and ending with a snap of its spine and neck followed with a red beam punching through it and striking the hand the girls were both on.

The explosive force sent them flying back without so much as a brace to latch onto.

They began falling, but it didn't last when Weiss got caught in the stomach by an open arm. Ruby who flapped through the air was caught by her hoody and dangled with crescent rose still in hand.

"Try to be more careful the next time you two go leaping off the head of a monster like that," Gaster sighed, still standing atop the light green barrier platform before flying the pair away from the behemoth. "Or you both'll be more of a handful than even I can manage."

"I'm not that hard to deal with," Ruby called as the geist cluster gave chase, slashing with its axe before switching and swiping with its mace.

"Where have you been?" Weiss yelled, struggling a bit to get out of her current position. The nerve of this commoner was profound, to clutch her waist again without so much as a notion of warning!

"No need to be like that," he said easily maneuverering past the axe, and with a flick of his fingers, two skeletal hands coloured orange and dark blue moved from behind him and flashed their own colours.

Down below to the base of the behemoth's mace appendage, a hoop of the same orange balls appeared around it before a pair of night blue energy rings fired out the hand of the same colour. The balls flashed and exploded before the rings came right in, the first striking and immediately breaking in a shattering explosion with the second slipping through the weakened point and effectively severing the entire appendage from the base of the body.

"I was around, helping in any way I could."

"Really? And what is it you found?"

"That your semblance is definitely one that I'd like to take a look into."

This just infuriated the young heiress while Ruby tried to crank her head to get a better view of what she was missing. "I meant about defeating that thing!"

As the behemoth let out a loud groan in possible pain or annoyance shacking the air, geist grimm began leaking out from the pieces and vacant spot where the arm was. Swirling through the air like a maelstrom of shadows before plunging into the forest floor.

"As a matter of fact, I have," he began, bringing his hovering hands back before increasing the footing area of the barrier he stood on, letting Weiss go from his arm and hoisting Ruby so she got her footing also. "The grimm cluster possessing this mound of dirt are quite coordinated. Most moving the limbs, potentially by the commands of maybe one or two grimm, with a portion acting as an antibody to any, unwelcome guests."

"Let me guess, we're the unwelcome guests when we went to stand on its head?"

"Precisely, and with a body as big and thick as this housing all that manifestation negativity, the only real way we can take it down is by taking out all the grimm in side byyy~," he trailed off, looking from one girl to the other as though expecting either of them to come up with the answer.

But of course, Gaster was just egging them on to the solution to the situation they were in.

Crushing earth signalled the return of the behemoth's missing appendage. At the end of its arm with trees and dirt falling away was what looked like a glorified merry-go-round spinning on its axis with four razor sharp granite blades protruding out the sides.

"That's a big weapon," Ruby found it in herself to marvel.

"You want to destroy the entire body in one go to drag out all the geists and pick them all off then?" in conformation, Gaster gave her a raised eyebrow with a tugging grin. Weiss just felt the need to roll her eyes at the notion. "Alright, but don't think this makes up for anything, and unless you've got a hidden trick up your sleeve, none of us have the fire power to do that."

The giant pulled back its arm before bringing it round in a side swipe towards them just as Ruby's eyes lit up at an idea.

"The ravine!" she exclaimed in joy. "We can trip it down there and destroy the shell while it's immobilised, or better yet, let the fall break it."

The merry-go-blades disconnected from the arm, stretching out before snapping taught by a lone chain of black smoking stones still spinning its blades.

Just before it hit, the barrier at their feet disappeared and the three of them free fell straight towards the ground.

"Nice to know at least one of you can think up more than insults," the doctor called above the wind, earning another snapping glare from the heiress before the platform came back, scooping them along and gliding the trio to the ground and giving the girls the chance to hope off. "That thing seems to be fixated on me. So, while I draw it from above, I want you both to do what you can down here, and when the time comes, help me trip it into the ravine."

Weiss didn't like being told what to do but gave a nod with Ruby before the two rushed away, leaving Gaster to his own devices.

'This is troublesome,' he thought, teleporting to right in front of the giant that'd been trying to get at him this whole time.

"You grimm are supposed to be emotionless. Yet, you've come all this way, trampling past so many other negative emotions just to get me," he called to its three coal burning eyes glaring back before rearing to swat him out of the sky like a fly again. Gaster couldn't help but smile at the whole thing. "This timeline is indeed most interesting!"

It didn't take long for Gaster to steer the behemoth close to the ravine. The constant evasions and counter strikes against it helped blind the grimm cluster to their approaching destination and the doctors grounded accomplices.

But it wasn't completely oblivious to the sheer drop, making sure to keep its distance from the edge when it got close while still trying to get at the doctor with those overly qualified fly swatters.

It was at this moment when it got close enough that Ruby and Weiss acted, rushing to the towering feetless legs of the behemoth before the heiress spun her rapier in hand and stabbing it into the ground. Ice burst force, encasing the front of the legs in ice before a pair of large glyphs appeared under its stumps, holding it in place even more.

"You've got this Weiss," Ruby cheered as the behemoth tried moving its feet.

"Can you please not talk _right_ now, I'm a little busy here," Weiss called back under the strain, fighting to keep the legs in place.

Harsh wisps in the wind made Ruby look to the legs encased in ice and saw the smog above them blackening and the geists coming out right for them to act as the anti-body Gaster had said.

"Well I better focus on that then," she said, pulling back crescent rose and firing a shot, striking at some of the first who appeared to be easy than the ones before spinning through the air in a flourish of roses and hacking at the next while using them as leverage to strike against the rest.

"Come on Gaster, where are you?" Ruby murmured under her breath as the last of the grimm was dealt with. It wouldn't be long till more came out to get at Weiss to free its legs, but at least she bought some time.

As though to answer her question, a tugging feeling pulled at the back of Ruby's head. Turning to the sky to satiate the feeling, she saw Gaster standing atop….a huge dragon like skull with cracks on its face with eyes glowing red! The mere sight of it left Ruby speechless.

She was so going to pester him into talking about it the next time she got the chance. This was too juicy.

Gaster's eyes had gone purple as his seven multi-coloured skeleton hands floated in the air before him, melding into one to form two giant versions of the same. They were over three times the teens size!

The new hands outstretched, touched together at the base of the palms before the pair started spinning in tangent with each other clockwise before they became a blurring cone. A flash of red in the hole of the palms made it look like a blurring red ring was thrown into the mix.

A low bearing howl sounded from the behemoth, and using its low bearing axe, went to swipe at the floating doctor. Flash of light and a joint thunderous blast from the spinning hands shot out in a powerful red beam that even from where Ruby stood could feel the heat, striking square in the face of the giant, gouging away deep into the stone.

The cluster actually cried out in pain before raising its arms to defend itself.

The light was blinding to say the least, making the two turn away.

'What's going on? Was he really this strong this whole?' Weiss contemplated, feeling the load strain on her glyphs lighten a bit with the behemoth no longer focusing on moving around as defending.

Pretty soon, the grinding of stone at joints led to the behemoth beginning to buckle, falling back at the waist and then the knees finding lack of support thereof.

"Yes, yes it's working," Ruby cheered out just as another geist came rushing out from the leg. "Oh no you don't!"

With quick slashes, the geist was killed almost instantly. Weiss behind her held on tighter with her glyphs, focusing as much as she could in keeping the giant in place.

As though to retaliate against her efforts, just as the behemoth was falling past the edge of the cliff ahead of them and Gaster ceased his blast, which looked to take a lot out of him, it shot out its arms to catch itself, digging its fingers into the cliff face and halting its fall.

This was just infuriating her at this point.

"Oh, you have got to be joking!"

"We're going to have to sever its fingers," Ruby called as more geists began seeping out from the legs.

"Well don't just stand there, take care of it!" Weiss yelled as chunks of ice began falling away from the legs. At this point, her glyphs were the only thing keeping the behemoth from walking away, and even that was taxing.

Ruby was distorted, glancing from the grimm to Weiss and back again. "But I….."

An energy ring came flying from the sky, dark blue in colour and slicing through a dug out ditch in the joint from the blast between an arm and the main body, jolting the behemoth down a peg.

It was quickly followed by a second, then a third and a full volley of them hailing down on the geist cluster, severing through all the limb joints that'd been weakened by the blast before dropping it into the foggy ravine with a howling cry.

Up above, Gaster stood with his larger hands still outstretched, but the colour in the palm holes had gone from red to dark blue. He was wobbling a little and losing altitude at a precarious rate.

"So he really does have his limits," Ruby breathed. "His semblance is probably running on empty."

Watching as well, Weiss turned to the severed legs she still held in place. The geists inside were still coming out but this time they weren't coming for her rather heading down into the ravine below.

With a grimace of disgust, she held aloft a free hand before pointing up. At her motion, the white glyph turned black and created a pushing force practically throwing the legs out of the weakened ice and down into the ravine with the rest of the rubble.

Ruby paced carefully over to the side with Weiss close behind after hoisting out her rapier and allowing her glyphs to dissipate. Within the foggy banks below, the dark outline of the stone husk of the behemoth was barely visible, with the cries of the geist in a maelstrom calling from the depths.

Movement could just be made surrounding the outline with a gleaming light shining through.

"Any problems?"

The sudden question jumped them both in surprise, Ruby more than Weiss who just barley avoided falling over herself as they turned to see Gaster now at ground level. His hands and dragon skull no were to be seen with his eyes back to their usual duo colour.

"D-don't do that," Weiss hissed in a little fit. She wasn't one who liked surprises, especially when they were played on her.

Gaster on the other hand only laughed a little at how his simple question spooked her before also going to the edge and looking over.

"Seems we've achieved our objective. The shell is broken and I'd give it a few minutes before they've managed to regroup and possess a new vessel."

"Then let's finish the job," Ruby exclaimed with excitement, hoisting her scythe aloft as though she were about to harvest a field of wheat for the fun of it before dashing to leap off the edge.

Just before she got too far, a hand gripped her shoulder which effectively yanked her back from her dash with a "_huurk_".

"As helpful as you'd both be, I can take it from here. I believe _they_ need more your help than I do," the doctor motioned, letting Ruby go and pointing towards the castle ruins standing in the middle of the ravine of fog a fair way off.

There against the nevermore, Yang and Blake were clearly having bit of difficulty dealing with it.

Solid shots were landed, even some up close and personal, but ultimately brushed off by the winged grimm only for it to counter strike back at them and do some real damage to them both and the ruins they stood on.

The crumbling stone work was even beginning to creak and crack at this point.

Even so, Weiss wasn't having it. The way he said it was like he was someone who wasn't exhausted after pushing down a mountain of stone possessed by grimm with sheer aura alone while flying.

He was just trying to show off.

"Not happening. We take care of the remains down there and then we go help them, together."

All he did was smile back. To say it was caring would be a little bit of an understatement. There wasn't even a hint of selfishness behind it. Disarming.

"A no-good person like me has to pull his weight every now and again," Gaster said, repeating Weiss's insult. "You help take care of them, and I'll take care of this."

The girls contemplated their choices, but given time was of the essence they had to decide quickly.

"Alright, but I expect you to be careful. Without a partner you won't have anyone to watch your back," Ruby pestered and turning to Weiss. "Let's get going."

"I think I can help with your travels a bit," Gaster spoke up, summoning his hands again and before either of them could say anything, the girls found their waists bound again by light blue tendrils again before hoisted off their feet and effectively sling shotting them over the ravine.

"You insolent commonerrr~!" Weiss cried out in annoyance as Ruby gave a "_whoopy_" in her flight.

As he watched them soar before landing, striking back against the nevermore and rallying with the others, Gaster's face dropped, giving a heavy sigh rubbing his eyes. He wasn't used to putting on façades and making himself think he was talking to someone from the underground was not something he enjoyed.

Especially when he had to imagine a human as a monster.

Yesterday, when they met and he smiled, he felt like Jaune might've seen through his forced smile. If he wanted to fool someone even more perceptive as him, then he was going to have to step up his game.

"For goodness sake, and I'm going to have to keep this up until the right moment," he groaned, pulling down on his face. "Keep it together, keep it together. Remember it's to get back home, save everyone from Chara, who for some reason has come back as a vengeful spirit and free them from the underground. How hard can it be?"

Truth was, he wasn't running on empty or exhausted. Not even close. But after everything, he was finally at a point where he could just sit back and observe a real right without any distractions.

Behind him, grinding stone rose from the edges of the ravine with wisps of anguish and torment, shadowing him as it towered above the doctor.

Not so much as a split second, the entire thing was surrounded in orange orbs before exploding, shattering the limb to dust and releasing the grimm before they were all severely picked clean apart by a pair of whizzing rings of energy.

"I said, no distractions, can remain silent," Gaster monotoned, not even turning around as the rings arched through the air before flying into the ravine below.

Gaster didn't turn, in fact he didn't need to look as the remaining geist's below were hacked away.

As he watched the fight at the ruins, a sting shot into his side. He gasped in pain, clutching his waist, starting to feel a little queasy. It was like it was moving, sliding off his bones.

The pain didn't last, subsiding quicker than it'd come.

Still, that didn't leave Gaster a little worried by the feeling. This was getting serious. These occurring tangs had never been this server before.

"I'll have to look into this later."

Turning back to the fight at the ruins, it wasn't long till the nevermore was literally dragged up the face of the towering cliff by a galivanting Ruby with her scythe hooked around it before cleanly hacking the head off. _

**Later**

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos and Nora Valkyrie," Ozpin announced on top the stage with the four others opposite him in front of a crowd of the entire academy. "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc."

The boy in question gave a shocked look at his name being called as the crowd applauded. Pyrrha next to him smiled as Ozpin continued.

"Congratulations young man," he commended, stifling a laugh.

As they made their way off the stage they were replaced by a new group of people.

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake belladonna and Yang Xiao-long. You four retrieved the white knight pieces. From now on you will work together as a team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose."

Another applause thundered as Yang tackled her younger sister into a hug with a wide grin on her face. Weiss on the other hand, looked more than a shocked. Wonder why.

As they left, Gaster alone came onto the stage after them.

"Wing Ding Gaster. You collected the grey sage piece. Because you have, you have the authority to either join an already existing team, or form one of your own."

There was a quite sharp _"psssst"_ from behind that Gaster almost missed. Turning around he saw Ruby sticking her thumbs up with a wide grin on her face. Jaune was also next to her and was smiling sheepishly while rubbing the back of her head.

Letting out a light smile in sigh, he gripped his arm in contempt before turning back.

"I'd like to form a team on my own."

Someone suddenly yelled "what!" behind him followed by a series of "shush"'s. Wonder who.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the declaration. "Are you sure? This would mean you'd be taking on all missions alone and increase the difficulty in each of them."

"I am indeed. Things would only get more complicated if I were a part of a team."

'And the progress for my work would be hindered.'

"_Hmph, v_ery well, so long as you're sure. Then from this day on you will be part of a one-man team, team G. I wish you the best of luck."

As Gaster left the stage, the audience gave their thunderous applause yet again. Though to Gaster, it felt spiteful. None of them had ill intent as far as he knew, it's just that for why he was here wasn't for the same reason the others were, or even close to it.

'Don't think of that now, Gaster. Not when you know there's a human child killing everyone in the underground, erasing timelines and moving on to the next.'

His cheeks at the edges of his mouth split minutely as his scars got deeper and the whites of his eyes darkened. "Tha❄ ✋s j🕆st _unfor__ivabl_ ~."

Suddenly his left arm began burning. Wincing and gritting his teeth amongst the crowds of as the applause died down for Ozpins speech, he rolled up his sleeve carefully to take a look, making sure no one else was looking.

Arm exposed, his eyes widened in shock at what he saw before slipping it back down and quickly glancing around to make sure no one else had seen. They all seemed oblivious at least, too fixated on what else the headmaster had to say, though it seemed that he wasn't saying anything important with just the usual school into talks.

The doctor took this moment to move to the back of the crowds before teleporting to his room. Upon arrival, the sudden use of magic intensified the burning he was feeling, even making him weak in the knees.

Stumbling to his desk and slumping into the chair, he fumbled to turn the desk lamp on before bringing his arm to light. The flesh halfway up his forearm was peeling back with strands of mucus and exposing the bones underneath.

He wasn't bleeding, and he still could move his fingers, so it was unlikely it was an attack on his system.

Focusing, Gaster tried pooling his internal magic into the peeling flesh in hopes of seeing some results.

"…."

Time ticked by, and still it kept peeling. Gasters was really getting worried now.

"T-this isn't good. If I don't find out why this is happening or if I can stop it, I'll more than likely lose all the flesh I have remaining, and my cover will be blown amongst these humans."

"Alright, alright~," Gaster panted, picking himself up from his chair then pacing back and forth before his bedroom wall covered by notes while tapping his bone fingers together. "Let's see if I understand this~."

The evening had soon gone and night took its place, yet things weren't any better for Gaster than before. He'd stopped losing anymore flesh, but that was only after his whole left forearm fell right off along with his hand cover.

"Hmm~. When I first fell into this timeline, I had flesh infused in various parts of my body. Though they acted more like clothing than actual body functions, yet my own mana kept it from rigor mortis. Now, after extensive time I appear to be losing it."

Thinking on those words for a moment, Gasters eyes soon widened as he looked to his hands, flexing them and turning them over.

"Or what if, I'm not losing. What if I'm reverting back to my original form as a result of the imbalance I afflicted in this time line. Before I came here, grimm were the closest to monsters by nature, yet my species is further away from them as I am from humans. But when I did arrive here, the timeline couldn't process my existence and altered me to become more, processable. Now that I've spent time here, I've been processed and am now reverting to my original form."

At the thought of returning to a monster, Gaster couldn't help but crack a smile. True, he'd eventually lose his disguise, but when that happens, he could look into the mirror and finally see a familiar face looking back at him.

But that didn't mean he could rest on his morals. If he couldn't find a way to replace his flesh, his stay at the academy would be short-lived.

That night, Gaster didn't sleep so much as a wink. Good thing too, otherwise he'd mentally end up in the void again with a guest for one of his recent experiments who found a timeline where everything was mechanical. Unlike Jaune's visit, Yang's was a bit more exciting.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello readers, back with another chapter. I know some of you saw that I was misspelling Weiss as Wiess and I made sur to correct that. **

**As to answer a certain reader who asked me about some additional Undertale characters, don't worry, I plan for them to be coming soon. Who they are, well I don't want to spoil it, but with everything I've written I'm interested to see what the guesses could be =). **

**Enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

The night was late when Gaster's flesh stopped peeling itself off with the itchy rash that came with it. He'd only lost what little he still had on his left arm and even that was enough to raise an alarming number of red flags.

His current standing in the timeline left him far less than ill-equipped to deal with this sort of thing, but he had to act. If he ended up losing his flesh again it might not be so easy to cover up with just a bit of clothing.

But what could he do? The only thing that he could even call a lab was all under lock and key and had been ever since he first got here.

"Gah, it's insulting, but it looks like I'll need to work in the only other place that can come close to giving me what I want."

Slipping on his shirt, trench coat and white gloves onto both his now exposed skeleton hands and snatching his notebook, Gaster made a move teleporting straight to the mess hall.

The dark night made the large building eerie quite with the feeling of a graveyard and the lack of people. Not the doctor's favourite of places but it made a comfortable setting cover from the security cameras.

Spending a full weeks' worth on campus came in handy mapping out the locations of every building he'd happen to visit, though the cafeteria hall was the last place he thought he'd be using this knowledge at.

Carefully, he peaked from behind the corner of one of the furthest most pillars of the mess hall. Very faintly, the glints of the cam's sparkled from the shadow's mounted high above.

Four total, each covering a side of the building bolted to pillars with rotating mounts. Gaster was by no means in a blind spot and at this point the cover of dark was the only thing keeping him hidden.

Or at least he was hoping.

His target, the kitchen at the other end. Three ways in, front, back and the venue where they pass food out. All heavily monitored and heavily bolted.

"And the next guard could be passing by at any moment," Gaster mused, summoning his hands and sending integrity, courage, justice and perseverance up the side of the walls. Flying them close to the ceiling around the camera's blind spots until reaching behind each of them.

Bone fingers gently clasping the power cords.

If he could, he'd just teleport into the kitchen as easy as he'd done to get here and avoid all this fuss. But he'd never seen the inside of the kitchen before, so this was more of a pain for Gaster than he'd care to admit.

With a flick of his wrist all four hands simultaneously yanked the cables out.

* * *

**Interlude**

In the academy's security room the size of a large living room sat a lone guard before a full-blown wall of computer screens each showing an aspect of the academy.

He was reading a time magazine and couldn't help scoff at the publicity the head of the Schnee Dust Company was getting. Lots of people hated the guy and others just found the drivel coming out that man's mouth hilarious.

The guards reading time was abruptly interrupted by sharp static sounding in front of him. Glancing up, he noticed four of the monitors had just gone static with the harsh sound to go with it.

"Hmm, that's weird~," he grumbled, reaching up and checking the screens a bit before picking up a radio from a whole stack of them. "Hey, Maron, could you check out the cafeteria real quick for me? Cameras seem to have gone off up here."

"…..Yeah I can do that, I'm close to it now actually," it crackled in response.

"Cheers."

* * *

**Interlude**

Hoping that did the trick, Gaster quickly teleported to the other end of the room by the kitchen door and giving it a look.

Locked, and electronically to boot with a required key card.

"I don't have time for this. I need to get those cameras back online before they cause a major problem with whoever's on the other side of them," he breathed rattling his brain for a solution. "Okay, electronic locks are held in place by a security system that can only be opened by a key card. The door is held shut by a bolt which is governed by a motor controlling its position which is controlled by the system, so I just need to send a current to get the motor moving to move the bolt."

As Gaster tried planning his way around, flashing lights brought his attention to the windows. It was a groundsman with a flash light moving by them and probably coming to check on the disabled cameras.

"Forget it, I'm doing this the quick way," he resolved, taking a fist and beating the top of the scanner pad until it was dislodged from the wall and exposing its wires behind. All three of them. "Black and white are power wires, so green gives the all clear if the key card is correct. Right?"

Determination at the ready, he carefully cut through the cables with a fine beam before shaving the tips off to expose the copper beneath.

The hall doors rattled as the guard inserted his key.

"Why is it that this's electronic but that's analogue?" Gaster huffed in frustration, taking the black and green and touching the ends. Nothing, was he wrong?

The door gave an echoing click of the key turning.

Letting green go and grabbing white he attached the heads again. Nothing, one of them must not have been the cable he thought it was.

The door handles rattled as the knobs turned before the guard opened the doors.

Tossing the black and grabbing green again he touched the heads together in a dashed attempt. A small click in the kitchen door as the motor moved the bolt aside.

Got it!

Gaster slapped the scanner back onto the wall to cover the cables before going to the door just as the groundsman shone his light through the room with a single sliver of the kitchen insight. That was all the doctor needed.

The guards light shone over the back of the hall, the sides and back again before looking up the cameras on the pillars.

"Okay~, nothing out of the ordinary," he mused to himself before a static buzz sounded in his ear piece and a voice followed through.

"The feeds back on line. Whatever you did, I think you just saved my bacon, Maron."

"I didn't do anything," he responded, still looking up to the cameras. "We might need to get these ones checked in the morning. If their faulty and this happens again it'll be more than just your bacon on the line."

At that, the groundsman gave the vast room one final sweep before turning to leave. Unbeknownst to him, the kitchen door with a hairline of a crack slowly clicked shut with his departure.

"Hhh~, that was a little nerve racking," Gaster breathed, turning away from the door and looking to the darkness of the kitchen.

The whole place was gloomy to say the least. Could do with some lights on, but lone building in the night that's supposed to be dark might draw attention if the lights suddenly came on. Still, working in these conditions was breaking the peak of the doctor's patience and he most certainly wasn't going to stand working in the dark.

Bringing up his hand of courage along with his scroll, he turned on the light function before letting his hand hold it.

It would be easier to use his hands themselves as lights, but the magic to maintain them all would just be a huge waste. This way, he hardly had to think about his hand to keep one materialized and in place. That and it sure beats making a makeshift lamp from parts.

"Alright, time to get to work."

* * *

**Later**

Hours passed, so much so that morning light was now beginning to leak through the windows.

Gaster had spent the whole time mixing ingredients, boiling, frying and steaming everything he could do to make a solution that could serve as a substitute to his flesh.

Anyone can make a crude papier-mâché skin, but the doctor wasn't one to settle with a crude make. If he was going to have to live disguised under these conditions, then he was going to live with the best disguise he could get his hands on.

A gelatine-based compound was the best he could hope for, and no matter the distractions he was going to get it. Even if said distractions so happened to have been him slipping on freshly peeled piece of flesh off his leg.

Still though, kitchen supplies weren't enough to do this and no amounts of coffee was going to help him see over that fact.

"-one gram of caster sugar, half a gram of flour and three teaspoons of egg yolk," Gaster listed, pouring the ingredients with the rest into a simmering saucepan before taking a drink from his eleventh coffee already. "I need an upgrade from this."

Just as the saucepan was beginning to steam his scroll suddenly started buzzing and nearly fell right out of his hand into the pot.

Plucking it out and looking to the screen the word 'Ruby' was highlighted in bold letters.

"Since when did I give her my number?" he mused, hitting pick-up. "Hello?"

"Where are you?" came her voice hushed and sharp. Gaster could make out someone else talking in the background. "Class has already started."

Gaster froze on the spot at her words before quickly flicking through his pocketed note book until coming across a scribbled in reminder on the page.

He was late for his nine o'clock class on the first day!

"Miss Rose, kindly put your phone away. Tales of old have the best meaning and feel to them when told to an audience without distractions," a proud voice boomed in the background.

"Ah, sorry-," the call abruptly ended with a soft beep on a loop.

"Oh dear," Gaster groaned, flicking his scroll closed and putting it away before dissipating his hand and turning the stove off. Taking one of the mixing bowls he poured the steaming solution into it. "If I don't get to class, I end up risking drawing attention to myself."

For the remaining materials and solutions in the making, he packed them away into clean jars and other containers he could get his hands on. He would've much preferred them to be sterilized rather than resort to these barbaric means, but choices weren't wide.

As soon as he finished, he guzzled down the last of his coffee before grabbing everything he could and teleporting right back to his room.

Dumping everything before teleporting again as close as he could to the lecture room he was meant to be at.

Again, a room he was unfamiliar with.

'This is becoming more and more problematic for me. When I have time, I'm going to memorize this entire castle of a school from bottom up. I'm never going to waste time just by walking like this again.'

As Gaster hurried through the hall ways to find his current class, he couldn't help but contemplate what his current findings meant for him. And by that, no findings at all.

The kitchen was the next best thing to an actual laboratory for him to use and the only chemistry class on campus was hardly something he could properly work with, considering the materials and user wear were all locked up tight behind analogue locks that he couldn't just warp by.

You can only break so many locks before security catches on to your routine and manages to catch you in the act. A fact Gaster was more than happy to avoid completely.

As he continued walking past classroom after classroom, he found himself coming up on one of the campus labs. He couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows at what he saw.

'That's odd, the doors open. It's never been like that, at least not without a little of my handywork,' Gaster thought, coming up to the door.

Giving a peek inside he was about to go by completely until noticing what was inside, stopping himself dead in his tracks going back to see if he was seeing right. A twitching grin crept onto his face with a spark of his scientific madness bubbling up within him.

Though he'd prefer to call it enthusiasm.

Taking a step back, he teleported back to his room, grabbing his materials from the kitchen and jumping to the lab's head desk. Setting his previous results down next to a full set up Bunsen burner and dripper.

The classroom was setup differently compared to other lecture rooms on campus. It had the same third-of-a-circle room shape with desks set out on the same level with two to four gas ports on each while the head desk was elevated, kind of like a court room.

The other desks were spaced out three by eight with each having a pair of gas ports.

At the back wall hung lab coats and goggles for borrow with glass cabinets housing chemicals and equipment. Normally they'd be locked tight, which was the main reason Gaster couldn't us it.

But this time they were open, and a few of the materials were even set up on the head desk.

"Makes sense I guess, this is basically the start of the school year," Gaster hypothesized, pouring a fair bit of the failed gel mixture into four separate beakers with one of them atop a tripod before hooking up the Bunsen burner and lighting it. "There's bound to be a class here eventually."

Just as he was placing the mixture above the burner on the tripod his eyes widened at the words that just came out of his mouth. A class? Here?

Suddenly a growing commotion sprung from practically nothing behind the door to the class room flung open and scores of students piled in one after another. The sudden audience nearly made Gaster spill his set all over the place.

As they all began taking their seats behind the desks before him Gaster soon found himself with a full audience of children. Some still chattering amongst each other while others looked to him with awaiting eyes.

'Oh, for phalanges sake, was this class set to start later in the day than most other first years?'

Moments passed and Gaster still tried to decide whether to leave now or stay for the materials. At this point even the talkative students had their attentions turned to him as the beaker of sludge began bubbling.

"Is that our teacher? He looks kind of young."

"What's up with those scars? I wonder if that white hair makes him a mad scientist."

"I just hope we don't do anything boring~."

"Wanna hang out at the library after this?"

'Wait, teacher? Me?'

The proclamations and mild gossip going around him was giving Gaster a thought. A plan forming in the doctor's head with another smile tugging away at his lips. He tried to hide it but a bit managed to slip out.

The real teacher probably had this set up before hand and might've left because he forgot something.

'Meaning he'll be back soon. I'll deal with that when it becomes a problem.'

Giving his throat a clear Gaster stood in attention.

"Good morning class, I hope you enjoyed your break, and welcome to Beacon Academy first years," he announced loudly enough for the back to hear.

A few confused looks went around before one of them raised a hand. A faunus girl by the looks of it with rabbit ears growing from chestnut brown hair.

'Oh no, I didn't make a mistake, did I?'

"Yes?" Gaster motioned to the girl with a hint of worry in his voice. But by contrast she looked just as worried if not frightened. Maybe she was a bit shy.

"Umm, sir, we're actually second years here," she replied softly with a twitch of her ears.

That confirms it, she was shy but that didn't matter as Gaster realized the severity of his mistake.

A series of nods and murmurs of agreement went around class as Gaster closely looked at each of the students. Focusing his magic and looking beyond his flesh eyes and into the souls of each of them.

The girl was Velvet Scarlatina, and from what Gaster could gather off her soul she was a second year at the academy and the rest of her team CVFY were all in the same boat. Even her team captain Coco Adel was eyeing him questioningly from behind heavily darkened sunglasses.

The rest of the students were all also second year students and were in this chemistry class to learn to make medicine in the field from raw materials or if the product itself was no longer available.

'An interesting course to have at an academy to be sure. Then again, this is the same academy which trains children to fight monsters. Wow, when I think of it like that it makes me feel like a traitor,' Gaster grimaced with pressing fingers on the desk, even denting it. 'Just remember what you're fighting for.'

"Yes, of course Mrs Scarlatina," Gaster said with a gleaming smile. "I've got new students to teach later today and I guess I just got the grades mixed up."

"I…. didn't tell you my name," she murmured with a surprised look on her face.

"Moving on," dialling down the Bunsen burner before turning to the black board behind him, Gaster grabbed a laying piece of chalk from the base ledge and wrote his name in large letters. "My name is Wing Ding…..Dreemurr. You shall all neither address me as Wing nor Ding, but Dreemurr. _Doctor_ Dreemurr, am I understood?"

'Please forgive me your majesty, I need a cover name right now and yours was the only one that came to mind that didn't want to make me facepalm myself.'

Finishing, he turned to the class where a number of heads nodded with a few looking more confused than moments before.

"I said, 'am I understood'?" he called louder this time with a few more heads nodding while a couple others replied with a 'yes'.

'Respect is definitely something I'm going to have to work on.'

"Right, now I expect you all to be at least moderately familiar with the materials of an average lab. In your teams I want you all to grab lab coats, two Bunsen burners, tripods, three beakers, a thermometer, funnel, mixing spoon, two boiling flasks, retort and goggles from the back. We're going to start work on your first quiz for the year," Gaster smiled to himself in joy at the looks of shock on the students faces at the mere mention of the word 'quiz'. "What are you all still sitting around for? I said begin."

As a student's got up to get the materials few came up to the front desk.

"Excuse me, Mr-."

"Doctor."

"-Doctor Dreemurr, but what are we going to do about materials? We don't even know what we should be doing."

"Not to worry, I'm about to write up directions and the materials I have just in the back here," he reassured confidently.

The next set of students behind them had similar questions, including what it was they were doing. Of course Gaster couldn't tell them they were mass producing synthetic flesh for him to wear. The uproar would be too much for him to handle and he'd have to bail.

To reassure them and even keep them on their toes, Gaster told them he wanted them to pay attention to what they were doing. To question what would happen while following his directions so they could not only learn how to make it, but why what they made could work.

That and it'd give Gaster enough time to formulate another cover story to what it was they were doing.

'I just hope the cooks don't mind a few extra ingredients missing from the kitchen-.'

A figure suddenly blocked out the front door to the classroom at the other end with a few books in hand and a very shocked look on his face as he looked over the hustling of the whole room. Dressed in a dark-blue shirt, black pants and shortcut orange hair tied back a bit into a manbun his mouth hung open as he tried to find the words to say.

None of the students had yet noticed he was there yet.

"What is going on here!?" he boomed, drawing everyone's attention to the door where only a brief wisp of blue light vanish.

"Was someone there?"

* * *

**Interlude**

"What the?"

He was just standing in the door way but a moment ago and somehow, now he was standing atop a cliff overlooking a shear drop into a ravine with crumbling ruins standing in the middle and a vast forest stretched on the other side.

A morning wind howled against him, threatening to blow the books from his hands. But he was too dazed to even care.

"How did I-?"

He barely got the question out before a hand shoved him from behind and he was sent screaming into the ravine below. The teacher caught the barest of glimpses of a shadowy figure where he stood before being engulfed by the mist.

"I'll come back for you later!" Gaster called at the top of his non-existent lungs.

A thud echoed back from below followed.

"AAAHH! MY LEGS!"

* * *

**Later**

Hardly an hour passed and already students were unknowingly well underway producing their own version of Gaster's solution following directions written in chalk on the board by the self-proclaimed Doctor. Though, few of the ingredients he brought for them were a little more than questionable for a number of students.

Including a certain team with a certain shy faunus girl.

"So, we're supposed to keep the beaker at a steady hundred and twenty degrees for five minutes, or until the liquid has gone golden brown. Then add in the five grams of sugar and flour…. What are we even making, a cake?" Fox Alistair asked hefted while holding a measuring cup of fresh flour up to a beaker above simmering mounted atop a tripod above a Bunsen burner.

"N-no, I don't think it's like that," Velvet stuttered, wrinkling her nose to the smell of one of the beakers as she poured a millilitre of concentrated acid into it. "Maybe we're just using common ingredients because they're the cheapest."

"We're meant to use hydrochloric acid and food colouring? Food colouring, I don't even know how that's medicinal," the crimson haired asked gesturing to the instructions on the board.

Dreemurr wasn't up there anymore and now moving from table to table, checking the progress of the students and answering questions where he was needed.

"Calm down Fox," Coco stated in a solid tone from behind darkened shades while whisking a beaker of her own. "I feel the same way as you do, and I guess this is what teach meant when he said we should be questioning the how and why to what we're doing rather than just doing it. Even Yatuhashi's got the patience down pat for it."

At the other end of the table stood a tall built lad with a stoic expression on his face, arms crossed as he watched a murky green batch steaming in a retort above a burner and the vapor being collected in the tube and dripping out the end into another beaker. The end result was a lighter green liquid. The whole process really did need the patience.

"That's only because he's got the discipline to go with it."

"H-hey, careful. The beaker's overflowing," Velvet panicked, drawing the two to see the beaker above the burner bubbling over violently.

"Dammit," Fox cursed, snatching up a pair of tongs from the tabletop and using them to pick up the beaker between the prongs. "I still want to know what it is we're making-ah!"

In the distracting moment the beaker slipped out the tongs and smashed against the polished table making everyone "yelp!" in surprise. The contents splashing out, spilling over the desk and a bit landing on and burning the back of Velvet's hand making the faunus girl cry in pain.

"Nyaahhgh!"

She grabbed her hand while crouching to the floor to sooth the pain to no avail as Coco in a panic came down to try and console her friend.

"Breath Velvet, breath."

"We need to get her under a cold tap," Yatuhashi declared, pulling away from the slow retort after turning off the burner under it.

"You're right."

"Oh gosh, Velvet, I'm so sorry," Fox panicked, his hands hovering over his friend at the thought of feeling helpless and the one responsible hurting his friend.

In no time Velvet's aura began flaring around her hand in reaction to the burning liquid and very faintly the others could see what part of the solution wasn't covered by her other hand had begun glowing a bit. Changing colour from its golden-brown to a more goldish white gold with a hint of pink in it.

It was getting close to matching Velvets skin and for some reason the pain in her face was already beginning to lessen.

"What the hel-?"

"Come on, Velvet," Coco emphasised, helping her teammate to her feet and leading her to the nearest sink. "Fox, Yatuhashi, get Doctor Dreemurr and tell him what happened."

"I don't think that'll be necessary," they were all abruptly halted by their lecturer standing right before them, blocking their path to the sinks.

"Doctor Dreemurr, there's been an accident and our friend been badly burnt. We need to get her hand under cold water quickly," Coco explained, a hint of panic in her voice as she tried to remain calm.

"I can see that," he responded, looking Velvet over. "Alright, let's go."

He led the team to the sinks but when Velvet exposed her hand, Dreemurr stopped at seeing the solution on the back of her hand. It looked like it'd solidified into a gelatine mass.

"Why are we stopping, we need to wash it off," Coco exclaimed, turning on the tap just before seeing the doctor slip a gloved finger under the lip of the solid.

"H-hold on," Velvet pleaded right before Dreemurr ripped the thing off like a band-aid and stinging just as bad as one.

"What are you doing?!" Coco cried, shoving him away and getting between him and Velvet. Even Yatuhashi and Fox came in standing tall by her side trying to appear imposing.

A few silent moments passed as the two groups looked to each other with the sound of running tap water eclipsing the rest in the classroom.

"Coco…."

The mention of her name drew the captain to her faunus friend in worry.

"What's the matter? You're not hurting anywhere, are you?"

"N-no," she replied, not looking to her but at the back of her hand. Coco followed only for her eyes to widen and her shades to slide a bit down the ridge of her nose at what she saw. "I, don't feel any pain at all."

The back of Velvets hand where a burn should be, was only a light tinge of redness. Like someone had smacked it.

"I recommend you give your hand a good rinse when you can," Dreemurr said with sincerity, turning over the jelly piece in hand before pulling out a jar with screw on cap. "Now, until we're certain Mrs Scarlatina doesn't have any damage to her hand, I want her to remain here by the sinks. And please remember to wear gloves before handling chemicals again."

Unscrewing the cap, he dropped the piece into it before capping it and pocketing the jar back into his trench coat.

With a final look to the students, he turned to leave.

"Wait- Velvet, get your hand washed. Fox, stay with her. Yatuhashi, you're with me," Coco instructed before coming after the instructor who was heading right for their desk. "Teach, how did you know Velvet wasn't seriously hurt? I know her aura was helping out, but I didn't think it'd heal a burn this quickly."

Dreemurr stopped at the desk, glancing over their previous work before grabbing the extract Yatuhashi was supervising and the batch Velvet had before pouring the two together and giving it a mix.

The solution immediately frothed up like coke until settling down and becoming a dark golden colour.

"It's intriguing. Out of all the student teams here, yours so happens to be the only one that's exceeded my expectations and actually found a suitable formula."

"Ah, hello? That's not what I'm asking about. What did you really have us make?"

Dreemurr just looked to her and Yatuhashi behind Coco who had the same demanding expression on his face. He gave a quick glance over to Velvet who was washing her hands thoroughly under cold water with Fox helping her

He gave a sigh before turning back to the students who was still expecting an answer.

"Alright, I do believe it's about time for you to find out. If neither you nor any of the students have pieced it together by now, then I guess you should know."

Before any more could be said, Dreemurr with beaker in hand walked right past Coco and Yatuhashi and went straight to the head desk.

"Do you really think he's going to tell everyone the truth, or just say another cryptic message for the class to solve?" Yatuhashi whispered.

Coco folded her hands at the question while still looking to their teacher. Admittedly, she had her own doubts about this, then again, she had doubts about taking this course on at all to becoming a huntsman.

"I'm not sure, but I'm going to give to him if he doesn't. Teach or no, we deserve to know what we're handling."

"Attention class, please stop whatever you're doing and turn off your burners!" Dreemurr boomed, earning him their attention.

There was a short wait as everyone set what they were doing aside and turned off the flames. No one wanted to deal with a bubbling mess if it could be avoided.

"Right, now as I'm sure some of you are still wondering, you've yet to discover what it is I've had you make. Well, I believe the time has come for you to know the truth," he set the beaker he got from CVFY's table out in front on the desk before taking out the capped jar with the gelatine blob inside. "Team CVFY's had a bit of an accident making a solution much like the one we have here. The result was this piece in a liquid state spilled on one of them while searing hot and then solidifying into this state."

He motioned Velvet to join him on stage, but she didn't look too keen. Even going so far as to look the other way with a trembling lip.

'She really is shy.'

"Now, as some of you may know, a burn can take a fair amount of time to heal, even with aura. But with the solution on her, things changed and within a matter of moments the burn she had was nothing but a bad memory. How you ask? The solution I've instructed you all to make in your own way is meant to condense a person's aura into itself and doing so creates a healing pack that can quicken the healing of a particular area."

Most of the students looked a bit confused by the explanation. For good reason too, it wasn't everyday something that could use aura was made by someone other than those of Atlas, the ones at the top of their field.

"But, how does that even work?"

"Why do we need to know how to make something like this?"

"When did the chemistry curriculum jump this much?"

"I can see that some of you are confused as to the practical use of something like this. Well, what if you're not the one who needs it? What if on a mission a citizen is injured severely and is in need of immediate treatment that otherwise can't be provided? Because most of Remnants population don't have their auras unlocked, hunters and huntresses have to be able to do more than just protect them from the grimm. They need to be able to provide medical treatment when they can."

The class fell into silence as the professor they all recognised as doctor Dreemurr awaited their reactions.

Truth be told, what Gaster said was half a bold-faced lie. The solution did react to their aura, and in a sense became an extension of their flesh, condensing whatever soul energy passed through and for them acted as a healing pack. What he didn't tell them was that it becoming an extension of their flesh was far more literal.

For Gaster, the idea was to have a bit of his magic, his soul run through it and simulate it being flesh with the sense of warmth and touch that went along with it. Applied to something that had flesh, for instance a student at this academy, chances it could end up with an extra finger or a bulging tumour.

Suddenly the door broke in with a boom and groundsmen burst through.

"Hold the class!" one yelled above the rest and shocking everyone including Gaster. "We have reason to believe an imposter is teaching this class."

Gaster caught the barest of glimpses of the teacher he pushed off the cliff with them. Leaning onto one of the groundsmen for support on account one of his legs had an extra knee at the shin with a dark green aura simmering over it.

'Oh dear, I should've taken his scroll and given a few extra breaks before leaving him. I've seriously underestimated the efficiency of these auras.'

Snatching the beaker and jar in front of him, Gaster immediately teleported straight out of the lab and back to his dormitory room, almost tripping over a book on re-entry.

"Wow, that was a close one," he breathed, setting the two glasses down onto the desk before taking a step back and a moment to think.

He had to be careful contemplating his options.

Right now, he'd just impersonated an academy professor. That'll put the academy on high alert for any trespassers and apprehend anyone that looked suspicious. Thankfully he was currently a legitimate student so he shouldn't be able to draw to much attention to himself.

Then again, he taught an entire class. They've seen his face.

How long did he have until he was caught? What'll happen when he is? Should he make a break for it and start a new?

"No, I've already put to much time into studying the students here. Besides, there's no guarantee I'll be able to find a more reliable location to work on a dust powered version of the core to return home than this."

He gave a sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose with closed eyes.

"For now, I'll attend the class I have now to lay low, and because I used an alias they probably won't pick me out of the student body. Let the heat die down and if it becomes too much, I'll deal with it when it comes around."

Decision made, Gaster shifted out the dorm room to another part of the campus and began making his way to the class on foot. Again.

Despite what happened before, the trip over was a swift one, minus the number of times he avoided oncoming groundsmen searching the campus, but it was no worry.

Hiding in corners or teleporting behind people was something he was growing accustomed to.

Eventually he made to class with the door closed tight. Opening it a crack and taking the slightest of peak's through the slit.

The room was pretty mediocre, third of a circle in shape like the laboratory before but unlike such the student desks were all elevated the further you got back with the lecturers at the front.

In front of said desk stood Weiss with her rapier outstretched towards a boar grimm. Everyone was watching, including a large man with an impressive moustache in a dark red suit whom Gaster assumed was the lecturer of the class, professor Port. Though, Weiss wasn't doing too well.

Using the distraction, he teleported to an empty seat at the back, settling down just in time to see the boar curl up in on itself and barrel towards the heiress at rapid speed. She came in at it head on with a jab that was repelled by the grimm's thick back and battered her to the side before unfurling itself and coming to a screeching halt behind her with a snort.

Weiss was clearly irritated, turning to it with a snicker on her face.

"Weiss, go for its belly!" Ruby called from the stands, waving her arms around to get her friends attention.

"Stop telling me what to do!" she snapped back and making the little girl shrivel under her cold gaze.

The boar charged in again barrelling forward. Weiss barley had time to react, creating a white glyph before her the grimm slammed right into and flipping it on its back leaving the belly exposed.

She took the moment to leap into the air and form another glyph by her feet, turning it black which launched right at the beast, rapier poised and piecing through the soft under belly. It let out a sharp pained squeal before falling silent, dead.

"Bravo, bravo indeed," the lecturer by an open cage congratulated with a more than impressive moustache. "It appears we are most definitely in the presence of a true huntress in training. I expect you all to take notes from this. Well, those who actually saw it."

At those words, Port turned to the back row of the class.

"Don't think I didn't notice you sneak in Mr Gaster. Detention after class."

* * *

**Later**

Detention was an absolute bore for Gaster, a complete waste of his time. He was even at time considering blowing up the entire classroom just to get out or straight up leave.

The only thing that held him back was his determination to maintain his cover, and the lack of any itching pieces of flesh meant he wasn't in anyway shape or form going to lose anymore flesh at the moment.

But that didn't help when the only thing this human, Professor Port did was spend hours on end reciting stories of his youth.

"….and I was celebrated as a hero. Now Mr Gaster, what is the moral of this story."

"Mmm, always be sure your weapon is in top notch condition?"

Port looked to him, his face hardening. "No. It's that a true huntsman must be vigilant, wise, honourable and dependable. Now, come forth and show which of these traits you have."

As Gaster came forward, Port easily pulled out a cage more than three times his own size from around the corner. In it was a grimm, the same boar breed Weiss fought earlier, but do they really grow as big as that? It's back was pressing against the roof of the cage and creaking it.

"If you can best this grimm, you will be allowed to leave. If it overpowers you, I shall swoop in," he proudly stated, standing tall and clapping a double headed shotgun axe into his hand. "And see you tomorrow for another detention."

Gaster grimaced at the thought of all the experiment time he'd lose as Port shattered the lock and set the beast free.

'I will not waste time dilly-dalling.'

With rising anger swelling, summoning all seven hands and combine them into two giant fists.

The beast charged, barrelling at him. Hollowed fists flashed green with shield's spreading across the underside of the hands.

When it got close enough he smashed down on it, pancaking the swine to the floor and shacking the whole room. But it wasn't dead.

Bringing the hands up he pounded it again, again, again and again. Each blow shacking everything even more than the last until finally the grimm began flaking.

As it lay in a small crater of cracked stone and tiles, he let his hands dissipate before turning to a more than stunned huntsman. His moustache which lined straight and proud managed to faulter a bit.

"Thank you, mister Port," Gaster politely addressed, feeling relieved a bit from having let loose his pent-up frustrations. "The terms were; I kill it and I can leave, yes?"

He said nothing as Gaster made a move to the door.

"Gooday sir."

"Don't forget to read the extra materials."

Before he could even teleport back to his room, Gaster halted himself at the words. He looked back to see Port's moustache straight again, even giving it a twirl with a smile on his face.

"Excuse me?"

"You missed much of the class, so I expect you to read the proper materials. You can find them in the library."

Port gave a light laugh as Gaster turned to go, teleporting straight to the library and knocking the most irritating chore of the day out of the way.

'Honestly, to think I have to do this.'

It was ironic really, he vented his built anger from detention when it took up his time to finalise the solution, and now here he was collecting books.

It didn't take him long till he was hefting a stack of thick tomes in hand that felt like they were going to snap the bones of his arms right off. Making his way out of the isles, he came across a table where he could settle down and get the reading over and done with, thumping the books down.

It sounded like a thundering slam to the girl who so happened to be sleeping just on the other side.

"_Ngrah-_ I wasn't sleeping!" Ruby protested, sitting up from resting her head on an open notebook and frantically looking around with droopy eyes adjusting to the light before resting on Gaster. "Oh, Gaster. Your detention's over? Weiss isn't here, is she?"

"Hmhm, don't worry Ruby, she isn't here to call you out on your tardiness," he giggled, sitting down before picking up the top book of the pile labelled 'tactical monster slaying' and flipping over to a random page. "Though I do say it's surprising to see you sleeping here instead of in your bed. Never thought you'd find the pages of a book so comfortable."

"It's not that," she droned, picking up a pencil and writing a couple of lines in an open sketch book next to her. Speaking of books, the little human was surround by nearly as many books as Gaster had, a mix of both notebooks and text books encircling her like some kind of fort. "When I try studying, I can never keep my eyes open."

"I get the feeling. There were time's where I spent restless nights working, never taking a break and I'd end up dropping on my feet at any unsuspecting moment. But I guess there were other things that needed my attention."

In the moment, Gaster couldn't help but reminisce on times he spent with his sons before having to slave away at work. Especially during cooking, Papyrus would always make his spaghetti that everyone with tongues detested but could never bring themselves to say anything to the chief while Sans preheated frozen meals he bought.

At times they'd have friends over like Alphys, Undine, even Toriel and Asgore come around with their kids Asriel and adopted human Chara for dinners. Before he knew it, Gaster was smiling at the memories in bliss instead of reading.

"Speaking of, why were you late this morning? Did you lose track of time?"

Gaster was pulled back into reality and tried to find where he left off on the page.

"Something tells me you nearly did," he responded, earning a quick frown the girl. "But yeah I did. I was trying out some of my experiments and then… I guess I was caught up in some other work. I should really start setting alarms~."

"You do experiments? Like what scientists do and stuff?"

"Hmmm? Well yes. I was something of a scientist back before joining the academy, and I was pretty successful in a lot of areas."

"Really? So, you're not a creeper?"

Gaster almost tore the page in hand right out of the book in shock at the sudden accusation.

"Wha- where'd you get that idea?"

"Well, Yang thinks you're something of one. What with the whole distance you keep from people, the notes you keep writing down, what you were doing back in the emerald forest during initiation and why you chose to form your own team."

"Argh!-I only keep my distance from people at times because I can't have them getting caught up in my work and become unfortunate casualties."

'As well as keeping my secret.'

"As for all the notes I take, that's just to help me with my research."

"Okay, but why? I mean, it's not like you're writing everything down for a story. Is it, that was Blakes guess?"

'Aaaaah, the faunus cat girl. She does a good job hiding her features, but when you've lived with so many monsters with so many different traits you tend to pick up on slight details. The bow's a nice touch to hide her ears.'

"_Sigh_. You know, you're a pretty nosey girl."

"W-well, i-it's the best way I can get to know people," Ruby responded sheepishly, lifting up her book to her face in embarrassment. "And…..Yang says I need to make more friends."

'This is bothersome. I can't have her finding out I'm working on synthetic flesh, but I can show her something else to draw attention away from my real work in case it's discovered.'

Pulling out his notebook, Gaster flipped through the pages till he landed onto one completely covered in drawings and sketches of parts, inner workings of machines and tubes. As Ruby pulled herself up to look her eyes simply widened at what she saw.

"That's a hydron coolant system, and that's a dust transfuser," she pointed out, finger hovering over the drawings with lively eyes.

"I'm impressed someone as young as you can know that."

"Well, my crescent rose uses some of the those. Though only a little of the dust transfuser, I'm lost on everything else," she said, looking a little sheepish at having to admit it. "But what is all this for?"

Reaching out, Gaster turned to the next page to reveal a singular drawing spanning both pages of a large machine. It was a box in overall shape with compartments to hold dust built into the sides. It had snaking pipes built in converging to the centre where what appeared to be a gyro lay built into it.

Depending on how things went, the prototype might not be any bigger than a lunch box.

A little part of Gaster was expecting Ruby to look confused, not having the slightest idea what she was looking at. But that expectation was as childish as what he thought the reactions might've been.

"Wow," she gleamed with eyes lighting up with sparkles behind them. "What is it, what is it? Is it a new weapon? Does it run on dust? What does it do? Are these coils for infusing dust? What dust are you thinking of using? How many grimm can it kill? Can it make a big explosion?"

Gaster was taken back by the barrage of fast paced questions. He knew he should've expected this from the same hyperactive girl that fawned over his seven hands, but it wasn't something he was accustomed to.

"It's used for generating large amounts of power at the expense of dust. Well that's the main idea, but until I can properly make it, I won't be able to know for certain," he half-lied.

She didn't really need to know what he intended to use it for and letting her believe what a sliver it could do was what it mainly did might seem more believable.

As she was looking over, Ruby stopped at the material list, particularly for the pipes.

"Are planning to use steel pipes? That might not go so well if you're thinking of using highly reactive dust like energy, then you might want to think about something like double copper lined with polymer insides."

"Really?" looking with her he saw what she was aiming at. "I'll try that out when I begin the experiments."

'I guess being a weapon's geek has its perks. I wonder where I'm going to get those, I haven't seen anything lying around the academy like that.'

"Looks like I'll have to do some shopping," with a rise in new hope in his next task, Gaster couldn't but feel the excitement and the questions how it'll all pan out. Of course, fixing his flesh was something that came first, but having his next move planned wasn't something to be looked down on.

With the thoughts still in mind, Gaster noticed the still vacant book on Ruby's end. A light twitch pulling on the edges of his lips.

"Shouldn't you be studying right now?"

Gaster's question froze the young girl mid look of the prototype plans.

"Aaarrghhh, Weiss is going to yell at meee~!"

As she frantically went back to writing and reading, Gaster gave a little sigh with a smile before packing away the notebook and going back to his own reading.

"….."

"….."

"….."

"Can you please tell your sister I'm not a creeper."

* * *

**Few days later**

"~_siiip_~. So, how's he doing so far now that classes have started?" Ozpin queried, gazing out the window in his office with a cup of coffee in hand.

"Nothing extreme after the chemistry lab class." Glynda responded behind him, holding a holographic tablet in hand. "There have been a number of cases where he's shown up late to most of his classes. Though, just yesterday we recorded footage from the Emerald forest which suggests he's been spending time there."

After tapping her tablet a couple of times she pulled up a holographic recording of Gaster by the ruins in the emerald forest above Ozpin's desk. It was him laying down a contraption in the middle of a forest clearing before moving back a way off. A couple of moments later of sparks flying and the lunch-box sized machine shacking it exploded in short brilliant radiance.

The video paused, rewound to where the machine was laid down before the image was magnified on the machine.

Ozpin turned around and took a good look at the frozen image in silence.

"Do we know what this is?"

"No. We've shown the image to a few tech specialists James introduced to us, but they all have different opinions on what it may be. Some say a generator, others a capacitor and few suggest a bomb."

"I can see why they'd think that."

"Ozpin, if we know Gaster is making these and testing them without authorisation, why haven't we confronted him about it?"

Ozpin stood in silence before taking another sip from his mug with Glynda glaring back at him behind spectacles.

"And what of the situation concerning the imposing teacher for the second-year chemistry class?"

Glynda wasn't happy at the sudden change of topic. With another few taps on the tablet the screen closed and was replaced with a different recoding. This time of one of the academy's empty chemistry rooms.

It didn't remain empty for long, a figure came in draped in a trench coat with gloves on both hands before going straight up to the head desk. The footage paused before zooming in on his face, refocusing and creating a clear image followed by a student ID photo popping up next to it. Both of which were Gaster.

"We've called off the search as you've asked. But the huntsman who was supposed to be teaching that class is still wanting to know who pushed him off a cliff and why we've called it off."

"Thankyou for that. Tell him that we've called off the search because, we haven't found him on campus and have left the search to the authorities."

"Gaster servilely broke his legs in his fall and it's only thanks to his aura he managed to put them back together again. You know he's not going to be happy with this."

"He really won't be. He might even drop his position because of it. But if we tell him a student took over his class he's going to want to know more and that would cause trouble."

Glynda didn't like this. She wasn't one to always let things like this slide and roll with it. But she trusted Ozpin was making the right call, as he had done for a very, very long time.

"Back to matter's at hand, what was the substance he was working on?"

"We've asked the students, including team CVFY who handled it the most and looked through all the footage. As far as we can gather, it's a substance that can funnel and condense aura. But that doesn't mean it can store it for later use. We've recorded the recipe that was written on the board. Should we send this to the Atlas so they can also determine what it is?"

Ozpin stood thinking for a moment to try and come up with an answer.

"No, not this one. If he learns there's someone creating something we know very little of by someone we know even less, he'll want to press the matter further, and right now that's the last thing we need. If Gaster doesn't currently pose as an enemy, then he could very well be an ally, but if we push him with the force James is accustomed too, we may lose a valuable asset."

"I understand, but I still don't trust that this Gaster can even be reasoned with. Whatever he is, he did attack a teacher, hijack a class, and under his supposed supervision endangered the students _of_ that class. You may be willing to give a partnership with him a chance, but until I can understand his intentions, I'm afraid I must be against it."

With the way how Glynda was against him, Ozpin had to give it a little bit more thought.

"I understand," he mused before his face lightened up at a thought. "You've got combat class with the first years if I'm not mistaken. With the way how Gaster fights, I'm sure you can get a fair idea then."

* * *

**Later**

"Yeah, I can't wait!" Yang cheered as she with the rest of her team strolled down the hall for there next class. For this special one they'd slipped out of their usual academy clothing and into their more comfortable combat attire.

"You really are enthusiastic about combat class," Blake commented.

"Well of course I am. All we've been doing in our classes so far has been nothing but theory, reading, listening to old stories and more reading. But now we actually get to _fiiiggght_ for a change."

"And I get to finally break people!" Nora jeered coming up behind them with the rest of team JNPR in the same hyper tone as Yang.

"No Nora, no breaking people," Ren scolded her like a parent to their child only to get a pouting face in response.

"_Uuurghh, _I never get to break people~," she sobbed childishly.

As the two kept talking with Yang coming over and trying to help in telling Nora there were more ways of fighting than just breaking people, like landing a few solid punches punches to the face, Ruby fell back to meet up with Jaune who had Pyrrha walking beside him.

"So, you looking forward to trying your skills against other students?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"W-well, I'm not really feeling confident," Jaune responded timidly with his face down a bit till he notice's Pyrrha looking at him with a concerned expression. That simple sight made Jaune brighten up again with his own smile. "But I'll try my best as team leader."

"That's the spirit, Jaune."

"Well I think you'll do a great job," Pyrrha spoke up with a joyous voice. "I for one, will do my best to represent team JNPR."

"And cream everyone who goes up against you," Ruby giggled imagining the amazon decimating her opponents and standing triumphant above their mountain of beaten corpses. Corpses might be a bit extreme just for a little sparring. "We'll be rooting for you from the stands."

"Thanks."

Time quickly flew by for all of them and before anyone knew it they'd arrived at their combat class. Filing through the door they entered a large room with an arena in the middle and balconies half encircling and overlooking it while the other half was met with a large wall that spanned the whole side of the room. Large banners of the four main huntsmen academies hung off it with the occasional shimmer across the fabric in the slow air.

Scores of students first year teams dressed in their own combat gear were already lining the balconies, chattering amongst each other and clearly showing that they too were so looking forward to a 'little hands on class'. A familiar figure stood in the middle of the arena with a scroll tablet in hand.

A little after both teams took their seats and more students coming in, Glynda pushed up her spectacles before gazing around at the audience with a stoic look. For some reason, grimace faintly lined her lips in slight disappointment, though none of them could figure out why.

Was there something about the students that she didn't like or something?

"Welcome students, to your first day of combat class. Here, you will learn, train and improve yourselves for actual combat against foes. As most of you may know, I'm Glynda Goodwitch, and I will be your instructor for this class."

"So she's going to be our teacher? Didn't see that coming," Yang whispered.

"Why would you think that?" Wiess asked in a hushed tone.

"Well, we always see her with Ozpin, so I was just thinking she'd only have the secretary position."

"Well she's a great fighter," Ruby voiced with sparkles in her eyes, reminiscing the night she saw the huntress nearly take down a whole airship single handily, and then yell at her afterwards. Actually, that's a part she'd rather forget. "I bet she's an even better instructor."

"Hello kids, mind telling me what I missed?" someone suddenly whispered behind them making a few jump in surprise.

"Where did you come from?" Jaune breathed as Gaster sat himself down with a hefty looking bag thumping down beside him with a jingle of metal parts inside and a cover of soot on his face.

"Not important, but it seems like I haven't missed much here-."

"Ah, Wing Ding Gaster, so glad you could join us today," Glynda announced, drawing everyone's attention to the somewhat late student. "Since you've managed to make it after class has started, I'm assuming you must think this class to be easy. How about you come down here and have a little demonstration match with one of your fellow peer's to show just how _easy_ it is?"

Everyone was now looking more intently to the monster disguised as a human, even team RWBY and JNPR were looking at him. Gaster on the other hand, had a blank look. It wasn't just void of emotions it was downright dead, almost as if he were.

Though the feeling wasn't far off.

Gaster didn't make the effort to come here after testing his proto-dust core just to engage in a petty fight for the amusement of the class. If there was going to be any fighting, he'd be the one watching for his own benefit, observing the fighters and their auras.

"I'd prefer to watch for the most part, Mrs Goodwitch," he protested.

"Gaster, you are here to train to become a huntsman. If you don't show even the least bit of interest in participating in my class, then it will affect your overall grade. We wouldn't want you to fail at Beacon academy, would we?"

"Last I checked, a student's academic performance is assessed through a collective of assessment related activities and has very little to do with their participation to simple demonstrations."

Annoyance grew in Glynda's expression before a glint sparked behind her eyes, turning the scroll tablet in hand and typing a few keys. A large holographic screen overhead lit into being and Gaster's photo took up half of it with and empty bar below it and the digit's '0%' below that while the other half remained vacant.

"Congratulations, Mr Gaster," she announced, turning back up to him with a gleeful smirk. "You've just began your first practical exam for my class and is worth twenty percent of your overall grade this year. Any questions?"

Gaster was taken back by this, looking around he saw many of the students had gone from answer awaiting to absolute shock. Weiss was amongst the few who had the look like they were hoping for the worst to happen to him for their amusement.

No surprise there.

'Well played, Mrs Goodwitch, well played,' he mused standing up and coming down to the arena. Clearly there was something she wanted out of this to provoke him this much.

"I just have one, is winning a mandatory part of this exam to pass?"

"No, but I do advise you to at least try. Now, is there anyone who'd like to participate in this match? You won't be marked the same as Gaster here and instead gain the chance to earn extra mark" scores of hands shot up instantly at that, teams RWBY and JNPR included. Even Jaune had a nervous hand raised. "Mrs Nikos, would you please come down?"

Groans of disappointment went around a few of the people in the crowds as a Pyrrha came down from the stands with sword and shield in hand and her friends cheering her on. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way Gaster, just fight me the best you can."

"Don't worry, I won't take this personal," Gaster reassured summoning his seven hands. "But I'll take this moment and push you to see what you're capable of."

Pyrrha smirked at the declaration with the feeling of a challenge at hand, readying herself with shield raised and morphing her sword into a javelin drawn back. The monitor overhead updated with Pyrrha's face included in the empty space beside Gaster's and both their aura levels displaying before Glynda-

_Blaarrrp!_

The horn blared signalling the end of the match.

Confusion was the main thought shooting through the audience after a build-up of anticipation, and they weren't the only ones. Everyone turned to the monitor and several gasps and murmurs went around. Though it made sense to Gaster.

It didn't take long till the confusion was soon replaced with laughter when they saw Gaster's aura level was zero, completely empty in comparison to Pyrrha's full bar. It was like a preview to the fight

"Mr Gaster, if you could turn your aura on we'll get the match underway."

'Of course it would say that. Aura is something human and faunus soul's produce and can be read by instruments. This is a problem. As a monster my soul won't emit any aura. I don't need it to survive, but it'll serve as cover. What to do, what, to….do….?'

As Gaster looked around the student body, he came to rest on Ruby amongst the crowds and an idea slowly came to mind.

'That's it, if I can't manifest an aura for the machines to read-,' he focused his hand of perseverance towards the dark red-haired girl and the hand flashed purple. Looking back up to the monitor he grinned as the bar quickly rose to its max. '-then I'll copy someone else's power to make it seem like it.'

Gasters' hand of perseverance had the power to copy any one magical attack or power of anything. Though if it's too strong for his hand to duplicate it'll shatter, and the power produced would be less than the original.

Though, this is the first he's tried it against a none magical attribute.

"And, begin!" Glynda declared.

Pyrrha rushed Gaster head on with shield first not leaving him a moment to counter before thrusting her javelin. Kindness created a barrier right before Gaster harmlessly deflecting the blow, but Pyrrha didn't let up.

Closing the distance so quickly she snatched the weapon back, collapsing it to a sword and barraging him with strikes against Gaster were the barrier wasn't only to be deflected by the barrier moving to intercept. It was like it had a mind of its own.

Gaster raised his hand and Pyrrha instinctively leaped back in time to dodge a yellow energy bullet from above strike where she stood just moments before.

Glancing up hovered one of the hands with a yellow glow in the centre. There was hardly time to breath before it fired a hailing volley of magical bullets at Pyrrah. She managed to deflect a couple away before dashing around to encircle him.

The bullets followed suit, striking a path left behind until one managed to catch her in the ankle and send a rocketing pain throughout her nerves unlike any she'd felt before.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune cried in worry from the stands as she fell to the floor with her aura intensively flaring up. She didn't have time to worry, not even that there wasn't any aura covering her ankle as the floor she lay on was suddenly covered in small orange orbs.

She had a split second to leap up and get away before they all flashed and exploded where she were.

Landing on one foot a bit way back, the pain in her ankle wasn't as bad anymore so she managed to take her defensive stance with her shield raised for any attack.

Gaster wasn't concerned with her, looking to the monitor curiously.

Normally, Pyrrha would take the opening and attack to secure the win, but she took the risk and spared a glance up as well. She almost felt her stomach drop at the sight.

The monitor showed her aura level had dropped by nearly forty percent, and that was just from the one attack she took.

As she stood a little dumbstruck, Gaster was thinking over a hypothesis he had earlier but never had the times to test it. A smile creeping on his face at the humour of it.

'So it's like that, isn't it? Normally auras these huntsman and huntresses have are meant to protect them physically from attacks, but since my magic does damage to both the physical and otherwise soul of a target, we monsters are more or less the worst opponents for these people.'

"I'm fine!" Pyrrha called back to Jaune, pulling Gaster out of his thoughts and facing the opponent he had now.

She went back on the offensive, rushing Gaster again only this time without her shield raised. Gaster followed suit bringing forward perseverance and slinging a pair of blue rings at her she nimbly leaped over and used the momentum to hurl her shield at him.

Gaster was taken back by this but wasn't worried as the disk sailed by him, nowhere near him or his hands and focused on arcing the rings through the air and coming back at Pyrrha from behind.

There was a clang of steel on stone and behind Gaster before a bludgeon slammed him in the back of the head, keeling him over and losing his concentration on the rings, sailing by her and crashing into the walls of the ring leaving deep grooves.

Disorientated, Gaster looked up in time to see Pyrrha bringing an axe kick on him with sword and shield back in both hands.

Had she somehow ricocheted the shield off the wall behind him and struck Gaster with such accurate precision out of so many possible directions? Either she was incredibly lucky, or there was something else at work here.

Gaster managed to move his head aside in time to only get a minor scrap across his cheek only for Pyrrha to use the momentum to roll herself over him and strike at justice behind him. The bone hand shattered into fragments, sending a pounding feeling through his shest at its destruction.

'More, show me more of what you can do!'

at the loss of his magical attribute a defening just as Gaster brought determination up behind her.

Pyrrha barley managed notice and dodge before a red solid beam shot her from determination that managed to float to beside her, skimming her side but enough to severely singe the aura and force her to retreat. Gritting through the pain she leaped back before lunging her sword now javelin at determination with her shield flying close behind.

An explosion at the base of the javelin shot the flying projectile even faster. Gaster managed to move his barrier and deflect them both. Just like before the shield and spear both managed to bounce off seemingly with enough force to fly back to Pyrrha's hands.

One time was questionable, twice meant something was bigger at work.

'Telekinesis?' Gaster thought, dropping his barrier and bringing his remaining six hands beside him. 'No, if it were things would be much more different. She wouldn't be simply dodging my attacks, she'd be outright destroying them.'

Pyrrha took a stance ready to charge again, but Gaster held up his hand to her.

"Pardon me for asking in the middle of our fight. But your semblance, what is it?"

The question seemed to take Pyrrha back a bit.

"Out of all the first years I have observed, yours is the only one I have yet to understand. Even Lie Ren's, as subtle as it is was easier to figure out."

"That's private. Besides, it shouldn't matter to you what my semblance is."

Gaster brought his hand up to rub his chin in thought. "I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say it's something like telekinesis, only a bit more limited, like a specific element that resides in both your weapons and is non biological. Am I right?"

Pyrrha tried her best to hide her shock, but little managed to show as she remained silent. Gaster let another smile creep onto his face.

"Alright, I won't press any further," he reassured, bringing his hands close. "I'll learn soon enough."

At his words Pyrrha lunged her javelin again with a shot fired out the back for propulsion and Gaster pulled up his shield again. The strike slammed home and Pyrrha was suddenly right by it, snatching it mid-air and leaping over the barriers top while collapsing the javelin.

Before Gaster knew it, she was right above him with her weapon collapsed into its gun and aimed right at his head.

Just as it fired, Gaster vanished leaving only purple petals behind for the shot to wiz through. But that wasn't the only thing left behind. Gaster's hand of determination managed to sneak in ready to let loose a blast.

Pyrrha only had a moment, contorting her body before the blast fired, but at that moment light blue tendrils snaked around her arms and midsection. It was a distraction, she couldn't do anything being pulled through the air up and over before slamming into the ground.

She wasn't done yet, not by a long shot. The tendrils disappeared and she leaped up onto her feet with her weapons somehow still in her grasp-.

"I forfeit."

Pyrrha froze at those words. For a moment she didn't believe what she heard until turning around to see Gasters hands disappear, his own arm raised and the other cupping his mouth. The monitor overhead displayed his aura levels to be zero, zip, completely empty.

"Y-you're not going to continue fighting?" she stuttered, holding her weapons as though rearing for a strike. She still caught on that someone as strong as him was throwing in the towel after just a couple of clashes.

Maybe it was selfish of her to hope for a real fight, but the feeling just wasn't leaving.

"But you entered this fight-."

"I entered because I was told to participate, I didn't have to win. Besides, I managed to gleam some new information," he removed his hand to reveal a terrifyingly wide grin with his lips pulled so far back up his gums they were showing the very corners of his jaw.

The mere sight of it creeped the audience out, Pyrrha included.

"I think I've managed to got enough for now."

As Gaster walked out the arena with Pyrrha following closely behind heading up to the balcony, Glynda who'd been standing to the side and watching the whole fight closely took centre stage again.

'He's got enough?' she thought turning to everyone. 'If he does, then he must mean he's going to start something with the new information he has. I'll have to keep an eye on him, he could pull his disappearing act in class at any moment.'

"Now students, in today's sessions I expect you to fight with more _conviction_ than what you just saw," a couple laughs echoed from the crowd which more than put a sorrowful look on the amazon's face. "Now, to make sure everyone here gets a chance to practice, you'll all be split into groups and test your abilities. We'll look at how you all go and see what you'll all need to improve on then."

Glynda pushed up a couple of slides from her tablet and the whole wall behind her shook, sounds of gears churning as the entire thing split in two before folding in on itself to the sides.

"Of course, there isn't enough room for everyone in this one arena, so we'll be using these instead."

She gestured to the now revealed room behind her spanning three times the size of the room they were already in. The entirety of the floor was honey combed with arena pits, a little smaller than the main one they were looking over.

Bullet proof glass ran dividing all the rooms and capping them with small hatches to allow people entry and others to observe from above.

A number of students were wowing as a list was brought up onto the monitor with everyone divided into pairs. Well, almost everyone.

"Looks like I get to take a crack at Gaster this time around," Yang grinned, cracking her knuckles at seeing she, Gaster were in the same bracket. Along with Cardinal, what luck.

"Please do try to hold back," Ren voiced, keeping a calm composure.

"After what he just did? I'm so not passing up this opportunity."

Gaster sighed at the sight who he was paired up with as everyone began heading to the multiple arenas.

He didn't harbour ill will to the two, but he'd already completed his research on both their semblances and how they worked. Though he did have his own thoughts of the campus bully.

What he needed was to know how they unlocked their semblances, and that wasn't something he was going to get in a combat class.

He could always ask one of the children or huntsmen how they did it, but he was too proud to just simply turn to them for help-.

A sudden punch to his arm broke Gaster out of his concentration and almost his bone too. Looking to the side Ruby was walking along with him and a somewhat disappointed scowl.

'Did this little girl always pack a punch?'

"Why did you do it?" she bluntly demanded.

"I've done a lot of things dear Ruby, you're going to have to be a bit more specific."

"Why did you suddenly quit the match before it was over? You could've had her, and you still have those skull things. That's right, I saw you hovering on those."

"Must I repeat myself? Because there really wasn't much point to me fighting against someone where I stood to gain nothing from it. I only fought her to further my research and satisfy Mrs Goodwitchs demand. I didn't have to win after all."

"That's not how you fight at all! When Pyrrha fought you she was hoping for an honest challenging fight where you'd fight with all you had."

Gaster just stared at her with an uncaring look on his face.

"Ruby, I'm not going to fight unless I really have to or unless there's something I can get out of it. You should learn that not everyone is as keen as you to fight."

Ruby opened her mouth to say something but closed as everyone moved into their groups.

"I know everyone isn't crazy to fight. I'm just saying giving Pyrrha an honest fight is good manners and it was something she was looking forward to," she pestered. "You say you only fight to get something out of it. I know I'm sounding like Wiess right now, but that's just selfish."

Gaster was getting more and more aggravated and even while he was managing to keep it hidden from his face, his eyes were more than likely showing it. His real eyes, burning beneath the fleshy exterior he had to contend with.

"You really don't understand a thing," he murmured so softly Ruby could barely hear.

A student pushed between the two of them, cutting through and the moment he past Gaster was gone. Ruby was stunned, looking around to see if she could find the bone white hair amongst the crowd.

She couldn't, and the only thing left behind was but a whisper in the wind.

"Kids~."

* * *

**Interlude**

The trench coat wearing scientist stepped from thin air having teleported from the combat class to his room. Grabbing his bag with the failed prototype inside before coming here and dropping it to the floor with trembling fingers and gripping the temples of his head.

'Selfish? Me?'

Ruby's words were nothing but of a child who hadn't seen the world for what it truly was, or the hand life can deal you when things go wrong. But it didn't matter, they angered him. Angered him so much because they held truth no matter how small to him.

He had been selfish, treating the feelings and lives of the student body here as nothing more than expendable test subjects.

"But that shouldn't matter, this is mealy a strained timeline far from my own out of countless others I have seen," Gaster hissed. A gripping pain tanged in his chest, feeling like something was gripping the insides of his rib cage in a sharp vice.

He grimaced at the feeling before marching forward. Gaster was already in depth with researching the day he arrived and with in the few days school started his research into aura and the potential design and build of the core exploded. Already his room was littered with books, scores of them open, a chalk board with drawn diagrams standing in the corner and hand-written papers everywhere.

Even the walls were covered in taped sheets. As for his desk, instruments covered it with a small chemistry set-up and other more mechanical works in progress like the next mini-core prototype. At the far end sat a shoe box sized machine a mould base of his face.

"I've just about had it here!"

Reaching under his bed and pulling out a trunk he began stuffing it with the papers, books and instruments.

'It hasn't even been a fortnight and yet I've already grown weary of this place. My semblance research just needs the activation sequence, I have sufficient means to produce more flesh and core production is well underway. Everything else is just a hinderance on my work at this point.'

"You certainly do work quickly, don't you? Though I hoped, you were a bit cleaner than this" Gaster stopped mid packing, holding pile of papers above the bag yet still calm. Turning to the open door behind him stood the all too familiar green suit and grey haired Ozpin. Cane in hand while watching him he held a mug of coffee in the other like he always did before taking a sip. "Am I right in assuming you're planning on leaving?"

"Very much so," he deadpanned, moving to clear his desk.

"I see, that is a shame. Might I ask why?"

"You may not."

A few moments of silence ticked by between them as Ozpin continued to watch Gaster pack while he sparred a few glares towards the headmaster.

"Is this about your hand and morning experiments, or the teacher impersonation you did in the chemistry class?"

"I shouldn't be surprised that you'd know about those. You are the headmaster after all," Gaster labelled before closing the lid down and zipping the case up before turning back to Ozpin. "So are you here to prosecute me, or kick me out? Because I'm well on my way for one of those."

"Not at all," he mused with a smile, glancing around the room at the papers everywhere and equations on the chalk board with curiosity. "Rather, I've come to ask, you're neither human nor faunus, are you?"

Gaster turned to the Ozpin, a blank look on his face.

Of course Ozpin would ask him that, why wouldn't he? When he first arrived in this timeline he was in the Emerald forest. A place literally the backyard of the academy and a place students go through for their initiation. It's make sense if it were to be littered with cameras.

Cameras that saw him. Which begged the question, were there some in his room he was unaware of? Talk about creepy.

"No point in beating around the bush about it is there? No, I'm neither human nor faunus not that it should be any consolation to you at this point. Though if I may ask, what do _you_ think I am?"

Ozpin just stood there, looking with a calm look at Gaster as he tried to think of a possible answer. He did in fact spare some thought before this to what Gaster was, to be able to survive as he did with what vital organs he was missing.

Glynda even voiced a couple of opinions that it was some new form of hybrid Salem had created between human and grimm. What a nightmarish thought that was.

Little did the headmaster know or even realize that for every moment that passed by between them Gaster was peering into the depths of his soul. He'd never done this before because he never thought he really had to, it wasn't a form of mind reading after all.

Gaster just smiled at how wrong he was to push it off.

"Because I know who you are, Ozpin, Orien, Oliver. Oh my, we even have an Olivia and an Odella in there," he mused with a widening grin, listing off all the names and identities Gaster was seeing overlapping with this man's soul. It wasn't his first time dealing with a subject who had multiple souls mixed with the one, but to think it was this many numbering to the near hundreds and accumulated through reincarnation. "Or should I call you Ozma? Yes, I like the sound of first name very much."

Ozpin's calm demeanour was completely shattered. To hear his past lives listed off like a roll call in class. No, it was even more so that his original name had been uttered. Was Glynda right?

"I'm guessing you really were sent here by Salem to disrupt the defences of Beacon, weren't you?" he stated, gripping his cane tight and setting down his mug. "Though I never would've thought she'd manage to succeed in merging a human with a grimm."

Gaster looked up to him with a look that was more intrigued than confused.

"A human grimm hybrid? Now that is an interesting idea. An act of a soulless being merging with another that has one. I can't say I haven't seen my far share of oddities, but I must query on who this Salem is. Oh, she wouldn't happen to be the source of this regret and remorse I'm feeling in the depths of your soul, would she?"

"My soul?"

Gaster blinked at the question before turning to look Ozpin dead in the eyes. What Opzin saw made him question his resolve and letting breath out at ease.

"You weren't sent here by Salem, were you?"

"No, but I think I know why someone like you would think of a me as a grimm with how most of them have their skeletons exposed," slipping off his gloves and revealing the clean bones below, Gaster reached up to the back of his head and digging the tips of his fingers int a seam that ran from half-way up his head to the base of his nape hidden by his clothing.

The sound that followed could only be described as a wet band-aid being pulled off dry skin with the squelching of mud with it as he began pulling. Seams were becoming visible as the entire lower half of Gaster's face was peeled away like a mask to reveal the lower skull and jaw.

It wasn't completely fixed on to him, when he moved at the speed of Ruby's semblance earlier his mask dislodged and ended up looking like a grin for the world.

The insides of his mouth remained flesh but even that he reached into and easily pulled out like a mouth guard. His lower head was devoid of any flash, even the throat lay barren to the bone of a spine.

Gaster really was lucky to have perfected the synthetic formula before he lost that.

"Though I'm pretty sure this is what made you question my façade as a human. You've seen it before."

Ozpin tried to his best to hide the gasp that managed to creep out, but after what had just happened before he was taking his time gaining back his normal composure. He'd seen how much Gaster was missing in terms of flesh, but to think he'd lost more and to this scale was beginning to make him think how he was able to hold together without muscle rather than just the fact he should be dead.

Maye he was undead?

"Yes, I have seen your hands before," Ozpin responded, managing to get back what he could of his stoic expression. "But I was unaware of how much of you was like that. Since you've pretty much laid my past before us, would you mind indulging me in who you really are?"

Gaster gave it a bit of thought, his jaw remaining shut in silence before setting down his face cover, mouth and gloves on the bed as Ozpin closed the door behind him for a little privacy. Something he probably should've done when Gaster was spilling his secrets like salt on spaghetti.

"My name is Wing Ding Gaster. You may see me as an adolescent male with a few quirks, but I am the former head royal scientist and friend to his majesty, king Asgore of the underground and proud father of two sons beyond this time line."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the declaration. "You're a father? You seem a bit young for that."

Gaster couldn't help but stifle a smile at that, though how could he help but grin without lips. Of all the things he could've asked about, that just had to be the one.

"Yes, I am a father. The appearance you see me in now was a side effect of my breaking through to this reality on accident. I am in fact far older than even you, Ozma."

"If you'd please, don't call me that in this life. I very much prefer the name of my reincarnation."

"Fair enough, Professor Ozpin."

"And that's my next question. You keep saying you're from beyond this reality, are you an alien?"

"Hardly, I am a monster. Alien is the term meant for those who come from another planet. Although I'm not from this exact planet, I am still from this planet but just one that resides in an alternate timeline."

This conversation went on for a bit longer between the two, Gaster explaining his current predicament, how he got here and his attempts to return to the void. Even Ozpin was giving a bit of light on his backstory. Even those Gaster managed to pull out of him.

The doctor wasn't overly worried about keeping his identity a secret at this point, not to someone who already knew so much. That didn't mean he told everything though, few details he chose to keep close to the chest for the time.

"I see. So this entire time, you've been trying to find a way home through the void. A place between - outside timelines. But going there would mean that your very existence is whipped from all other timelines," Ozpin summed up seated by the desk. "You originally agreed to enrol in my school because you needed a base of operations to conduct your research and experiments. But now that school has begun you've become inconvenienced and overpacked by all the classes. Overworked."

"That's the base of it," Gaster responded, seated on the bed while holding a cup of tea he'd poured for himself. Their talk had gone on for a while and his jaw had become somewhat parched. He would've considered offering one for Ozpin, but he had his coffee mug which seemed to always be full. "So you must understand why I want to leave."

"I do. But where will you go?"

"I hear mountain Glenn is nice this time of year. Abandoned due to grimm, easily accessible for me and enough workspace to last me sometime. I'd be able to finish in peace, aside of the occasional pest control that is."

"That it is," Ozpin agreed, talking another sip from his mug. "But in my opinion, I think you're looking at this all wrong."

Gaster perked up the statement mid drink. "Excuse me?"

"You're seeing this whole situation as nothing more than an inconvenience to you getting home. But what if this was an opportunity."

"An opportunity?"

"Yes," getting up, Ozpin promptly made his way to the door. "Walk with me, please."

Hesitant, Gaster obliged, setting his near empty cup to the side, slipping his face and gloves on before following the head master out. Soon they were walking through the empty halls with the occasional student or two passing them by off to class.

"From what you've told me, monsters of the underground have only ever been able to interact with humans eight times over the many long years you've all been down there. All of them being half-frightened children. So what if you took this opportunity to interact with more than just children that haven't reached double digits? It might help you interact with the humans on the surface in establishing peace. I've also seen how you act around the other students, you're not the most filtered of people when it comes to them."

"Well I haven't had the best history with them. But your timeline doesn't have any monsters, and we can use magic unlike humans. Of course, you're the acceptation."

"True, but we do have those who are sometimes criticized unfairly or unjustly for their inhuman appearances and treated as monster without being such themselves."

"You mean the faunus?"

Ozpin nodded.

"So what you're suggesting is that we monsters just accept our hatred for humans and retaliate like the White Fang? Were you not listening when I told you how the war started between us and them?"

"Of course I was listening. I'm saying you can see how much each side struggles for coexisting peace, even if there are factions that view at peace differently. Learn to live with humans, as well as with the faunus of this world and you might be able to help your timeline live with monsters instead of drawing out their hatred. What I'm saying is you might be able to see this timeline as an opportunity for ground zero of coexistence between monsters and humans. Even if there are some differences."

The two continued walking in silence a little longer, soon coming to a stop and Gaster's attention was drawn to what was beyond the hallway window. Out bellow in the courtyard, students were coming and going from airships that went to the nearby city of Vale. Though there were others who were just around and chatting with friends.

"Not all humans are the same," Gaster commented as he stood, still watching. "Just because I might befriend a human or two, or even a faunus does not automatically mean I have the skills to assist in mending relationships between the humans and monsters of my world. There are even those I …..truly loath."

"I know. Speaking for yourself and not your whole species is a lot easier."

"To clarify, my species is that of the skeleton. I'm one of the last three in the underground. At least I was, my sons are now all that remain."

"I'm sure you can help them."

"…..What do you want out of this?"

"Hmmm?"

"What do you want out of me staying here? Humans by nature are never this kind purely out the goodness of their heart, not unless they stand to gain. What do you get out of this?"

Ozpin simply smiled and turned back to the courtyard below. "I want my students to grow and graduate into prosperous huntsmen and huntresses for this world. It's why I became a headmaster after all, and I think that with someone like you, who's skilled in attacks and powerful enough to put even Mrs Nikos into shock can help them. Help them become the best version of themselves they can ever hope to be."

What he said wasn't a full-blown lie. That was part of the reason why he wanted Gaster to stay, but more of the reason was for his own wellbeing and the protection of the hidden relic and the maiden below campus. The more defence he had at Beacon, the better his odds against Salem were.

Gaster kept his gaze at the grey-haired headmaster. He had no real reason to stay here, none, and looking into his soul showed him that Ozpin was hiding something else about his desires. Something deep that tied with his regrets.

If he wanted, Gaster could just leave, complete the core within a month or two and return home right after. Assuming his anti-core was still in the void and hadn't decayed completely or some other void related phenomenon he'd yet to discover.

But, there was some merit in the humans words. Even if they were based on a 'what if' assumption that what he learns here could be carried to the other side.

Gaster gave a light sigh.

"I refuse."

* * *

**Later**

Combat class was nearing its end and with Gaster no longer in the class, Yang was paired in with average one-on-one with her pent-up emotions. Without her main target to vent those frustrations on how Gaster threw his match Cardin was absolutely at her mercy.

With each hit he managed to land on her with his unbalanced mace, Yang just charged up with it and pulled a move that seemed to turn her damage into raw strength behind each punch more powerful than the last.

The orange haired brute was almost thankful when Glynda called off the fights.

As everyone piled out the honey comb arenas, Yang and the rest of her team managed to meet up with far more happy expressions.

"Oh man that was so fun!" Ruby squealed waving her arms around with a grin on her face. "Fighting another student really gave me the chance to let loose and keep me on my toes!"

"Well I'm glad you're having fun," Wiess said. "Mine was okay, but they made too many stance mistakes it was driving me insane."

"We're all just students here. You can't expect everyone to have the same combat experience," Blake tried to reason and getting a scoff.

"So how'd your fight go, Yang? Did you manage to pummel that quitter?"

Yang didn't answer right away, sparing a glance towards Pyrrha amongst the crowds. She managed to meet up with the rest of her team as well, but even though she had a smile on her face, it looked forced.

The fact she was unavenged just made Yang even angrier.

"No, he bailed before I even knew he was gone!"

"What, does he want to get kicked out of Beacon?" Ruby sharply whispered as everyone took their seats in the stands and sparing a glance to Glynda who while kept an eye on her tablet felt like she could look right at them at a moment's notice. "Why would he just leave at the start of Glynda's battle class? She's like the most uptight person here."

"Well I say good riddens to that useless nobody. All he ever did was watch and run late to all his classes, never contributing to this prestigious academy," Wiess spat.

Ruby didn't like how Wiess spoke like that, but deep down she couldn't help but feel as though he was right. Sure he helped them out in initiation, but the guy definitely had issues with people.

"Alright students, that will conclude your first day of combat training," Glynda announced and drawing everyone's attention. "I hope you can all take something away from today because next class will involve a bit of theory-."

Groans sounded throughout the class at the mere mention of the word. Theory and combat never mixed for most students and others enjoyed the idea of combat class because they thought it would move away from all the theory.

"I'll take all your opinions into account and be sure extra work is ready for all of you next time," she added with a hint of annoyance mixed with glee in her eyes as she pushed up her spectacles before checking the time on her tablet. "It would seem we have some time left. Since you all seemed to have enjoyed your time fighting one-on-one, why don't we have one last match between two combatants to finish things off. Any volunteers?"

Not many students raised their hands at the question. Most were still a little exhausted from combating earlier while others felt a little stage fright, especially from what happened at the start of class.

Though for people like Pyrrha, reasons were a little more personal.

"I would like to."

Everyone stopped and turned to behind team RWBY where Gaster stood tall in the stands.

'Does he always appear behind people?' Ruby mentally queried.

"Mr Gaster, so glad you could join us. Any reasons why you left class so suddenly you'd like to share?" Glynda asked aloud, not taking her eyes off him for a moment.

"Well, I just had a little bit of an errand to run," he replied, beginning to make his way down to the arena on foot with the ends of his trench coat clapping against his legs.

"You do realize this means you have detention after school, don't you?"

A murmur of giggles went around the crowds and Glynda gave them all a confused look as Gaster only smiled in a light laugh stopping at the edge of the arena.

"Can't do that today I'm afraid. I have detentions lined up with three other classes today already. I'd better make room for tomorrow."

Glynda was surprised at his statement. Could someone really have that much detention times in just a few days already? She knew he had a unique case to the others, but did that mean he was this much of a problem child?

"Alright, so long as you don't forfeit again. So who will we be having against Gaster?"

Yang shot her hand straight up.

"If I may, I would like to have a rematch against Pyrrha Nikos," Gaster voiced, shooting Yang down and alerting the girl he called. "I do, after all believe I owe her an apology for what I did earlier."

A number of people turned to her, and even Jaune whispered she didn't have to do it. Pyrrha spared him a caring and thankful look to him before standing up from her seat. "I wouldn't mind."

After making her way down, the two of them stood alone in the arena again once more. Pyrrha taking her shield and spear in hand as Gaster summoned all seven of his once again and the purple one flashing again as it did last time.

"Should I assume you're also here just to collect data off me?" Pyrrha asked, morphing her spear to its rifle form. "At least tell me that much so I know to take you seriously."

Gaster only smiled, letting out a little chuckle and closing his eyes. "No~, no nothing like that this time. Believe me, I know it was unfair to you before, but now-," he opened his eyes, and Pyrrha saw a hint of seriousness behind his blue and red eyes before clapping his two skeleton hands together and combining three of his lose ones into a giant one. "-Let's just say I've grown a back bone."

* * *

**Earlier**

Gaster gave a light sigh. "I refuse."

Ozpin snapped to him in surprise. "Is that really what you want?"

"Oh it is. I won't stay here if it's not for my benefit. Any help your students get in improving to slay grimm from me is just an added bonus to my conscience. In exchange for my help, I would like sufficient materials for my research and my cover to remain the same as it is with the rest of the students. In the meantime, I will promise you that I'll do what I can to keep them safe."

"That can be arranged, though there is another thing I'd like you to do," Gaster gave him a questioning look. "The lecturer of the class you took over and pushing him off a cliff the other day has opted for resignation of his position because you haven't been held responsible, and I can't get the right staff to fill in just yet. Since you have some knowledge already on the subject and have taught the class, I was wondering if you could take over."

"The one with the second years?" he mused, thinking it over. "I can't make any promises, but I'll see what I can do. I actually enjoyed teaching them, even if it was for my own benefit."

"I'm glad to hear that," Ozpin smiled, resting his mug onto the windowsill and outstretching his hand. "Then I welcome and congratulate you on your re-enrolment and employment into Beacon Academy, Professor Wind Ding Gaster."

"Professor Gaster is fine," he replied with a grin as he took Ozpins hand and shacking it firmly.

* * *

**Present**

'Hm, I don't know how he did it, but Ozpin, you sure can sweat talk people into things.'

Pyrrha charged him with shield raised with a stance much like a spartan of old, firing shots off with Gaster's own barrier raised to deflect with ease.

'So let's see how long your theory can hold out.'

That night, Gaster managed to sleep with as much ease than ever before after arriving in the timeline. Though, having to watch branches extinguished, erased again and again by Chara's genocide route didn't completely set him at ease.

* * *

**_Badoompsh_, hope you enjoyed everyone and let me know if I've made a mistake. I'd like this to be readable =D.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone, thanks for the wonderful reviews. Glad you all liked it. **

**As some of you guesses, things are a little hectic over here, but I'm not going to let that stop me. And now for the next chapter, hope you enjoy.**

**P.S, I left an Easter egg in this chapter, let's see if anyone can find it. =) **

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"This is 'core prototype mark eleven' with gravity and fire dust sources, test one. Intended void entrance; one micromillimeter in diameter," Gaster announced to his recording scroll.

He stood by the middle of a small clearing surrounded by the tall trees of Emerald forest, the morning wind calmly rustling the trees as orange rays pieced through the skies of dawn. It'd been a few weeks since Gaster confronted Ozpin about everything, well, most things.

He still harboured doubts about the headmaster's intentions and what he was really wanting to gain from the scientist remaining here. Regardless, the two managed in arranging a workplace of sorts for him.

It was on campus much to the doctor's displeasure to work so close to the human, and situated at a far enough distance and times so Gaster wasn't accidently disturbed by the other students.

Though he'd much rather do things in a more controlled environment than the great outdoors. Something like a lab to call his own would make him feel much more at home.

Then again, the chances he'd blow up half the academy on accident was a risk too great for Ozpin to take, honestly Gaster thought it was reasonable on his half. Especially considering core prototype mark seven.

Trying to go big, he failed to include proper breach stabilizers and accidentally created a micro blackhole in the ruins above the ravine. The crumbling castle disappeared into the collapsing gravity in no time leaving only a few stone pillars behind that once held the ruins as any sign it was ever there.

This time he wasn't so hasty to get results and Ozpin wasn't as close to freaking out about it.

Gaster may not be a mind reader, but he could sure tell when a persons soul is on the verge of absolute panic.

He took the proper precautions in these new prototypes this time with adequate safety regulations. The designs were simple cubes in overall shape at first, no bigger than a lunch box and had grown to a hefty size bigger than a coffee table.

Twin dust barrels fixed on either side, tubes snaking throughout and a football-sized hole in the middle with rings designed to spin in opposite directions for energy stability looking much like a gyro. Atop were the safety mechanics looking to be a large rat's skull with three pairs of pistons protruding from its sockets.

After clicking in a pair of glass canisters filled with gravity and fire dust into the barrels, he took a safe distance a couple of feet where he could quickly get out if things got messy. Considering most things he did tended to put everyone's lives in a mile radius in jeopardy, it was the least he could do.

"Initiating test," holding up a remote with a dial ranging from zero to a hundred, he cranked the nob below it. The small core flickered to life in response, pistons pumped away, rings rotated and slowly gaining speed.

"Now ten percent-," the dial's needle swung, the machine hummed as the canisters either side glowed black and red with dust ventilated and consumed within its the depths.

"-Now at thirty percent-," the rings spun and pistons pumped faster and faster

"-Now at fifty-," the machine was shacking, rattling from side to side.

"-Now seventy-," flickering lights sparked around the gyro while the tubes glowed a dim read to increasing heat.

_Beep-beep-beep-beep!_

A red light was flashing furiously on the remote drawing Gaster's attention before cracking a smile of joy that spread wide.

"Conformation of micro-void hole, confirmed. Increasing to a hundre-."

_Dewwwww-Booom!_

The machine erupted into an explosion of glaring fire before Gaster could turn it up to its max. The force knocking him back as streams of yellow and blue flew off into the air accompanied by a plume of smoke.

Scraps of searing metal rained from the sky as the scientist lay there trying to gain his bearings.

"_Cough-cough_, oh dear~," he groaned, picking himself up with the smell of burning grass tickling his senses and the crackling of a fire.

Looking up, the grassy patch where the dust-core had been was ablaze, the main body popping itself apart under the heat and parts strewn across the ground.

Leaping up Gaster grabbed the nearby fire extinguisher he'd brought along and rushed over to let loose the foam on the licking flames. In moments the flames were doused and the chard grass now covered in white.

Looking down to the wreck of his work, disappointment seeping into Gaster's at the failure.

He tossed the red extinguisher to the side in a sigh before turning to his scroll still recording.

"Test eleven results; fail. Estimated reason for combustion likely stemming from overconsumption of the gravity dust leading to the heavy reliant on the fire," he deduced, peeling back his hand revealing the skeleton below and reaching for the canisters.

He could feel his synthetic flesh singing to the residual heat at being so close, gripping the handle and hoisting the fire dust canister out.

The glass cylinder was cracked, the full lower half blown to smithereens and a shard cracking off. Indeed, it had been overwhelmed without the balance of the gravity, leading to a chain reaction and this.

"Note, work on the consumption rate of the core, and also," he sighed, looking to the machine and thinking how low he was on dust. It wasn't like he was running low on funds to purchase more of the materials, but the recent increase in dust robberies in Vale was starting to raise prices which was beginning to take their toll on him. "Find a possible substitute or means to replenish dwindling reserves."

He noticed the pipes, reaching down and looking over them he admired how well they stayed intact.

"Also, thank Ruby for her suggestion on the pipe materials," laying the canister down, he turned to turn off his scroll before looking back at his mess with crossed arms.

"It would seem I need to push on with the dust base formula," he mused, rubbing his chin thinking over before an idea sparked in the depths of his mind and a smile twitching onto his face. "I have chemistry teaching with those second years today, don't I? Guess I'll have them help out a bit."

* * *

**Later**

"It really feels like I might've pulled something in her," Ruby whined, cradling her collapsed crescent rose in its case form in her arms like a child as she walked beside the rest of her team down the corridor.

It was a little after combat class and team RWBY was already heading for their dormitory to get ready for the next, history. Ruby's fight against some of the other combatant's had gotten a little rough on her poor baby and left its creator fearful for its wellbeing.

To be fair, it had been a while since she last had to replace some parts of her weapon.

* * *

**Earlier**

"Do you see him?" Blake huffed as she and Ruby rushed down the narrow corridor.

"No, I think we lost him on that last turn," Ruby replied, the two making another tight corner.

This combat class was all about enclosed quarters, so Glynda had set up the usually honey-combed room with separate arenas in the floor to one giant labyrinth above it. Using multipurpose blocks usually for tournament arenas to develop alternate terrain, a winding labyrinth was constructed with walls nearly twice as high as the students for a battle royal.

Two members per team sent in at a time and the last five standing were declared the winners.

"So how many do you think are left?"

"Oh, I think six, maybe seven left-guns!"

The pair ducked down a opposing hallways on Ruby's call just as a hail of pullets shot by them from a pair of handheld shotguns with vertical barrels at the corridors far end.

Ruby peaked around the corner to see their wielder flick them forward and sword blades fold out over the front before he and their partner came charging down the hall. She quickly glanced to Blake who was cocking back her Gambol Shroud and shifting it to its sword form before turning to her giving a nodding.

Ruby nodded back unfurling crescent rose and the two dashed out the corner rushing the other team.

As they got in range, the shotgun wielder now swords slammed on the brakes to take a knee allowing their teammate use him as a booster and leaped over them. Battling club with spikes along the side in hand she brought it down onto Blake, managing to deflect along the blade and crashing the head into the round.

Blake was about to take the opening till the other slipped from behind and lashed out at Blake who shifted back to avoid before he rushed Ruby.

She swiped her scythe with the retracted blade to deal some damage till blue tendrils wiped up from behind snaking around the huntsman. He was caught mid-run and Ruby's scythe cleaved through empty air and a flash of shock struck across their face just as the tendrils snapped taught yanking them with a yelp back to the other end of the corridor catching the attention of his partner.

His cries were cut short, grabbed mid-air by the back of his neck with bone tight fingers before redirected and slamming face-first to the ground, breaking it.

Their aura flared yellow before dying down and laying unmoving.

"Don't think you can lose me that easily," Gaster declared to the girls.

Ruby was in a little shock at seeing him so suddenly.

"I thought we lost him?"

"Apparently not," Blake stated, moving back a bit as her Gambol Shroud collapsed into its handgun form.

The huntsman Blake faced off had turned away from her, collapsed their hefty club into a larger box gun with a slit down the middle and opening itself with humming electricity.

The railgun lit up and fired shots with a bang.

A green barrier appeared in front of the scientist blocking the strike and the seven skeleton hands hovered up from behind him.

But she didn't let up, firing charged volley after volley in a futile effort as Gaster stood from their unconscious teammate, drawing his arm across his chest with determination glowing brighter.

"Move!" Ruby yelled dashing for her teammate.

Blake immediately understood what she meant and ducked into the hallway right before Gaster flung his arm forward, blasting determination with a glaring flash.

The club wielding huntsman now railgun managed to evade with barely a scratch one to be met with yellow energy bullet to stomach. She belched out air before met with a barrage of more slamming her away.

"That was a close one," Blake breathed, as the lightshow died.

The two of them got up in time for Ruby to notice numerous orange ping-pong balls appearing right in front of them. The girls reacted holding up their arms in time right before they flashed and exploded.

For Ruby, she happened to also be holding up Crescent Rose for defence, taking the worst of the blast to the shaft.

* * *

**Present**

"He didn't have to be so rough in training," she crumbled, stroking over the side of her baby where scuff marks remained.

"Hey, don't feel so down. It looked like he was taking things a little more seriously this time, so it helped with training," Yang jeered, cupping her hands behind her head trying to cheer her sister up.

"At least he was pushing himself. Definitely gives us something to fight against. Still, you could've done better than getting it handed to you~," Wiess groaned.

"I~, don't think he was going all out," Blake spoke up, face buried in a book titled 'moonlit ninjas' and feeling the cold glare Wiess gave her. "If he really was going all out, I don't think he would've given us the chance to get away, or at least taken the time to take out team LYDN before making his appearance known. Besides, I didn't see him use that dragon skull things from initiation."

Wiess's eyes focused into an angry glare and the news.

"That ingrate," she spat.

"Don't you ever get tired talking the guy down like that?" Yang queried. "I mean, he can't be all that bad."

_Katwang_~.

The sound of a spring snapping rang out from the red box in Ruby's arms shocking everyone. The little girl eyes' began tearing up while her lips trembled threatening to cry at the sound of her dying baby.

"Well~," Yang hummed, hanging on her note as Wiess gave her a look.

"One of the spinal springs broke~," Ruby sniffled, shacking her weapon and hearing a rattling jingle before whipping away a tear that managed to leak out.

"Isn't that one of the parts that helps change it from gun to scythe?" Blake queried.

She gave a nod in response.

"I'm sure you could just get some new parts from Vale after school," Yang suggested. "Those stores tend to have everything."

Blake perked up from her book with twinkling golden eyes and bow twitching.

"I think I'll tag along if you're going. There's a new book out I'd like to get my hands on, and I also need some dust for ammo."

"I'd love for you to come with us," Ruby cheered, her once depressed self now overtaken by her joyous personality like the passing of a storm. "The more the marrier."

"Awww, my little sis's going shopping with a friend~," Yang cooed, unfurling her arms and wrapping her sister in an over shoulder tackle-hug with a toothy grin on her face. "You're growing up so fast~."

"You're not coming with us, Yang?"

"Well, you see.… I'd love too, but I've got ….this _thing_ to do so I can't really make it."

"In other words, she wants to go out and pummel some grimm in the forest for practice," Blake interjected. "Since she still didn't manage to vent her frustrations out on Gaster."

Yang shot her a look but it was too late.

The damage was done and Wiess was now walking with more stride in her step, a smile on her smug face and her nose tilted slightly higher than usual.

Of course, Yang didn't like their trench coat wearing silver haired classmate. All the notes he took constantly from the shadows on people just rubbed her the wrong way.

Like a stalker whose eyes felt like they were peering into the depths of your soul. That said, the last thing Yang wanted was to fuel Wiess's ego and dislike for him by agreeing with her.

It didn't take much longer till the girls reached their room, even managing to run into team JNPR along the way. One of the many handy coincidences sleeping just a room away from each other. Having also been placed in the top five of the combat class, they were too in high spirits.

Jaune had managed to get some decent combat under his belt, but without Ren in the ring there was very little he could do to stop his own teammate.

Team's RWBY, CRDN, JNPR, G and SLVR might've taken in the top five, but if it were by number of knockouts, JNPR would've been taking home the gold. Nora's little rampage around the maze wielding her grenade launching war hammer and demolishing everything in her path left most beaten and bruised.

Massive smackdowns and one or two with broken everything.

Quickly swapping out their clothes, dropping their gear off and grabbing books, the two teams made way to their history class. It didn't take long till they made it and took their seats and no sooner did Ruby look around the room to notice someone missing.

"Class is about to start, I should give Gaster a call to remind him."

"Why even bother? He turns up late for most of his classes even if you do call him and he sometimes never comes, like he's got something more important," Wiess lectured her, flipping her notebook to an empty page.

"It's what friends do. I should at least show some concern if he's missing class."

"Ahhh, my little sister's kindness is wasted~," Yang pretended to cry out in despair, resting the back of her hand over her eyes and striking a dramatic pose in dismay. "Maybe while I'm hunting grimm I'll accidently run into a white haird creeper and _maybe_ accidently break his nose."

"I thought I told you he wasn't a creeper."

"He keeps writing about everybody in that book of his. How can he _not_ be a creeper?"

"He's only doing research for his machine."

"Is that what he told you?"

"And he showed it to me too. There were a few issues with it, but he thinks he can make a fully functional generator with it."

"That's absurd," Weiss declared. "If he wants a generator, he can get an Atlas grade dust powered one from any old tech shop in Vale."

"Yea, but he seemed very adamant about making this one. So much that he's willing to be late to class to make it."

Before they could go on, the door to the room flung open on its hinges with a brushed back green haired Professor Oobleck with large foggy round glasses and thermostat in hand. "Alright boys and girls, take you seats please, class has begun!"

Whizzing to the board and hardly looking out of breath in the act, the professor started writing in chalk. The class began with a long rain of lectures and questions with the history of war.

This went on for a while, and of course like any iconic classroom there was always someone slightly nodding off. Primarily a blonde Jaune Arc who Pyrrha next to him had to give the occasional elbow to keep him awake.

"And that boys and girls is why Shou Tucker wasn't considered for soldier improvement after the fight in Amestris during the metal era against the Ischvalan clan," Oobleck bellowed reading from the pages of a textbook in hand and whizzing from one side of the lecture room to the other. "Now, can anyone guess what Mr Tucker did to show his worth, and how it impacted the military?"

Few hands shot up while others wearily rose with less enthusiasm.

"Mrs Rose."

"After spending time with his family, he found humans could be improved for the war. But the method was a little unorthodox and he was quickly shut down."

"Yes, yes, but can you elaborate."

"_Ghck_-," Ruby was taken back a little by the question as she visually pondered. "Ah….well~."

"It's because his methods involved merging soldiers with animals to make them more 'beasty' to provide the keen edge in the war," Gaster finished, sitting at the back and leaving off from what Ruby had said.

"Normally the method would be shut down because it turned humans into beings more monster than what they considered to be the faunus. But in this case, he was dishonourably discharged and arrested because he used his wife and daughter as test subjects to prove it could be done."

"Yes, yes, very good-."

Oobleck was interrupted by the ringing of the school bell.

"Well that's it for today class, be sure to study pages 135 to 143 for tomorrows quiz," he rapidly spoke before speeding to his thermostat and taking a quick swig while a portion of the class groaned to the news. "Gaster, for your tardiness you are to stay after class until completing your own quiz-."

He pulled a sheet from practically thin air.

"-I even have one specially prepared for you ahead of time considering your history of running late to my classes."

Ruby felt herself wince at the sheer sight of it. It hadn't been nearly half a term at Beacon and already they were handing out punishments. The quiz had at least fifty questions at first glance, each with two to three parts.

She sparred a look to Gaster for a bit to give him some encouragement, but he was already spinning his pen in his hand and rearing to go.

"Alright, let's get this over with. I'm in a bit of a hurry."

Ruby was shocked to hear him say that as she left the room with everyone else.

"Such confidence young man and rush will get you nowhere in life," Oobleck lectured, placing the test down beside the doctor and pulling a cooker alarm from behind his back, cranking it all the way around. "Let's put some stakes to it then, shall we? If you can get perfect marks on this within the hour, I will excuse the next time you miss my class without a proper reason. You can even take the whole one off. Fail, and you'll be staying fifteen extra minutes behind each of my classes for the week on top of any detention. This'll also apply even if you don't attend the class that, day do you understand?"

Gaster's eye twitched at that sudden proposal as he processed what had just rapidly been said to him. The nerve of this human.

A free 'get out' card for him did sound enticing, but was the trade off, the risk worth it for him.

"You do know of the current circumstances and position I have here at Beacon, don't you?"

"Yes, yes, I know all about how you're an employed professor here at the Academy," Oobleck listed, taking a sip.

Truth, he didn't really know everything. Ozpin didn't mention Gaster's inhuman origins to the faculty, just that he was in a special case who was both student and teacher at the academy. At this point, the less people who knew about him the better.

"But I've seen your class schedules, and none of them overlap with my class, and very few of them start before. Today is not one of them, so your late arrival is inexcusable."

Gasters lips tugged into a smile. Seems there was no fooling this human as easily as he did Professor Port before. The arrogant human bought his line about his late arrivals and excused them entirely.

"Make it a week I can miss your classes, and you've got a deal."

"What do you mean 'deal'? Time has already begun," he blurted pointing to the timer that'd been ticking for nearly two minutes. "There are no deals in fights, only actions taken in the moments."

* * *

**Later**

"Ah, it feels nice to be back in the city~," Ruby sung as she strolled off the academy airship.

Blake was ahead of her and not showing as much excitement about being in the city as her teammate. It was such a small thing, but to someone like Ruby, to a leader, it was her duty to make her friend happy and forge a relationship with everyone on her team.

At least that was what Yang, Gaster and Pyrrha egged her to do most times.

Now it was just a matter of breaking the ice with a conversation stater.

'_Chuckle_, breaking ice~.'

Still, she was in a bit of a bind. Her personality wasn't as outgoing as Yangs' or as stoic as Gasters' to start a conversation. Sure she managed with weapons as a starting point, but at this point it might as well sound like a broken record.

Blake wasn't as crazy about weapons as she was, and the only time she was even remotely got close to Blake was with the book she was reading.

A twinkle glittered amidst her silver eyes at sparking idea.

"Soooo~.….. What's the new book you're looking to get?"

"Hmmm?"

"The new book, what's it like?" Ruby repeated curiously.

"Oh, it's….. it's nothing special. Just a little book called 'Ninjas' Ribbon'," she replied a little sheepishly with a blush edging on. "Just a little action romance story I like."

Ruby was musing to this. She thought she'd heard that book title somewhere before.

'I'm sure it's on the tip of my tongue.'

"Wh-what about you?" Blake quickly asked, trying to steer the conversation a little away from her in an attempt to hide her desire. "You said that you needed to pick up some springs and dust. Is that all?"

"Definitely, so far," Ruby smiled without a second's hesitation before drooling over her next words. "Just a couple parts and some extra dust for my baby~."

For a split-second Ruby was drowning in her own fantasy of somehow upgrading her crescent rose. But how could she? It was already perfect for her, and she really wasn't all that good wielding other weapons much.

"_Guqu_~, a-any way," bringing herself back, Ruby whipped away a small bit of drool that'd managed to escape her lips. "I'd also like the look of any other weapons. It's nothing bad."

The golden eyed huntress in training just hummed in agreement, clearly seeing the potential time they might spend at any weapons they'd happen to wonder into. 'I can't let that happen. If we spend too much time out, the bookstores will all close and I won't be able to get it. Which means….."

"Ruby, let's go this way," motioning down an ally, her teammate was a little confused by the gesture.

"Wh-why?"

"It'll be faster," Blake shot, grabbing Ruby's wrist and bolted down the alleyway dragging her behind much to her teammates dismay.

Ruby's pleads to stop so they could go to the weapons store grew less and less while she tried to get her footing. Sure she could be faster than Blake, but with her friend holding onto her and dragging her along she was having more trouble keeping her feet on the ground.

"Blake-?"

They popped out the other end before grinding to a halt and nearly flipping Ruby onto her face.

"We're here."

Before Ruby could push further, she turned to find the building in front of them.

It was a small bookstore, titled 'Tukson's book trade, home to every book under the sun'. She looked back to Blake but her teammate had already dashed on ahead to enter.

A bell jingled as the two came in.

The insides were set out mediocrely all things considered in a singularly large room. Eight rows of shoulder-high shelves lined the majority of the space side by side with a door at the back corner behind a long counter. Behind that also stood a well built-up man with thick dark sideburns in leu of a full beard.

"Welcome to Tukso-, ah Blake, good to see you again," glancing behind her, he smirked. "Brought a friend I see."

"A potential customer for your business, if you're lucky, Tukson," Blake declared nonchalantly walking up to the counter. "Have you got the new book I pre-ordered?"

Tukson grinned before disappearing under his desk.

Ruby meanwhile had gone to browse through some of the shelves on display. It wasn't a full-blown library, but the collection in on itself was enough to entice a little bookworm like herself.

No wonder Blake likes this store, plus she seemed to have a close connection with the owner.

"Wow, they even have 'Guzzy Bear' here. Is that?...No, I thought they stopped printing these years ago~. Oooh, comic books," Ruby disappeared down to a nearby rack in the corner where numerous volumes of comics lined rows.

As she flipped through them, Blake couldn't help but crack a smile at her teammate's impulsive childness.

"Here we are. One pre-ordered 'Ninjas' Ribbon', for one Blake Belladonna."

Turning back, Tukson had re-emerged and had dropped a book wrapped in cloth onto the counter. When Blake unwrapped it to inspect, a blush flushed her cheeks seeing the black cover of the book. White title above the illustration of a red ribbon clutched in the hand of an armoured ninja.

_Boom!_

Blake almost yelped in surprise as a large sum of comics and storey books piled atop one another slammed onto the table beside her.

"I'd like to purchase all these please," Ruby announced peaking from behind triumphantly.

Tukson and Blake glanced to one another, a little surprised seeing an eager customer. Ruby's gaze slowly fell on the unwrapped book on the counter.

'Ninjas' Ribbon', written by Canvas Oak...'

Something clicked inside her head at seeing the authors name, she'd seen it written on one of the books poking out from under Blakes pillow back in the dorm.

"Um…Blake. Isn't that book-."

The golden eyed huntress yelped in surprise quickly wrapping the exposed book back up before Ruby could finish. With slightly trembling lips, she turned back to a staring little girl with eyes dead as a grave whispering one word.

"…~fffiiiiiilllltttthhhhhyyyyyy~…"

Tukson burst out laughing to the act unfolding before him. Soon calming down, he was reduced to simply chuckling.

"Hahaha~, oh you were right little Blake. Potential customer indeed," he giggled, picking up the wrapped book and removing just enough to expose the barcode before scanning it as Ruby kept eyes locked on Blake. "But I think the laugh was definitely a bonus."

After Blake and Ruby paid for their own separate stashes, the girls were soon back on the streets again with hardly any time lost from Blakes quick detour.

Though the same couldn't be said for their trip to the nearest dust store.

"Why'd you have to buy so many books? You should've known they'd drag you down," Blake criticized her partner.

Ruby grunted a little next to her as she held a stack of cloth wrapped books in both hands reaching just below her collar bone. "I couldn't help it, there were just so many books there that I really wanted, and it was all just a spur of the moment kind of thing. I mean, look at this, 'single to multi, the history of transmogrifying weapons'-wow."

Blake couldn't help herself but sigh as her leader struggled to rebalance her books after attempting to reach for one. She really was such a child.

"Here, let me."

The two stopped walking and before Ruby knew it, Blake was unwrapping the book she held. She tried to protest with their not being enough cloth to protect the books only to be silenced as a second sheet was pulled out from under it.

"Tukson always wraps the books he gives with two clothes for extra protection. I think it's over kill, but he says he wants his customers to enjoy clean books after they get home."

"But, won't he go out of business quickly? It didn't look like he was getting much business at first glance."

"He doesn't. In fact, he's trying to save up money to leave town. But it's not like he's constantly buying these. He's got a full stack in the back, so he tells me, so he's got some to spare."

"You seem to care about him."

"We're….old acquaintances," Blake replied with a downcast expression.

A part of her wanted to tell Ruby the reason how she knew Tukson. Though, she couldn't bring herself to say they were both part of the White Fang terrorist organisation. Blake didn't want her past to come plague her, control her, be ridiculed because of it, or continue doing wrong under good conscience.

It's why she left them all in the first place, left Adam.

Blakes mind dulled in buzzing thoughts as she and Ruby kept going with the heavy load now distributed between them.

Though, the faunus in disguise's last sentence had left a somewhat awkward tension in the air. Ruby could feel it like it was a string pulled taught between them. She couldn't bear it any longer, she wanted to get rid of it and get a little closer to Blake.

After all, they were teammates, but they could also be friends.

"Soooooo~…. You like books?"

A crow called out in the silence that followed.

It just got worse.

'What the hell was that?! Of course she likes books, there's never been a time when Blake hasn't had a book in her hand during her free time. She's even got some now!' Ruby mentally screamed while Blake wore a look of dumbfound confusion. 'I can fix this, I can fix this. Just follow it up….'

"I mean, of course you like books, you read a book every chance you get, you even have books in your hands. So….does that, mean you, like…. to write a story of your own someday?"

Blake gave a little thought to that question, though it was more to how her team leader fumbled with her words to save face. She turned to the books she held before smiling.

"No, I just like how with books I can feel like I'm living other people's lives, or an adventure. It's not like I want to live them, but I do enjoy putting myself in the perspectives of the character the author makes," Blake hummed, looking ahead to weave by a post.

"Oh, I see. I just thought you'd like to give it a try is all. I mean, you thought Gaster was collecting notes to write a story before, so I assumed you had experience like that."

"I can't say I haven't thought about it. When you spend a lot of time outside and with other people, you tend to see different personalities and experience different scenarios. Like, Yang. Carefree, joyous and optimistic. Polar opposite to Weiss. She's so stubborn and uptight it's almost ridiculous. In a way she reminds me of…..Gaster?"

"Gaster? Why would Weiss remind you of….." she trailed off as she noticed Blake had stopped walking with her and stopped a little behind while Ruby was still walking. "What is it?"

Blake shuffled the books in her hands to point at a store just across the street to where they were as Ruby caught up to her. Looking to see what had gotten her attention, she was a little confused only for her eyes to widen at the sight.

While they'd been talking, time had somehow managed to pass them to the point they almost ended up passing by a dust and mechanics store.

Funnily named 'Dust'n'Parts'.

Tall glass windows panned across the front of the store, allowing onlookers to look inside and see rows upon rows of dust and mechanical parts. At the far end away from the front door stood bone white haired Gaster dressed in his usual trench coat and turtleneck under-jumper.

He was looking between a pair of small hand-cranked dust compressors of different makes.

"Blake, we took the airship from the academy fifteen minutes after class and we've only been here for, what, twenty?"

She nodded, though both were still looking across the street.

"And it takes an hour for the airship to travel to-and-fro, right?"

She nodded again.

"So how is it Gaster's here ten minutes before the next airship leaves the academy?"

There was no reply, just the footsteps of people passing by out late with the afternoon sun blanketing the city's sky.

"I'm going to ask him."

Before Blake could do anything Ruby burst into petals, sped across the empty street and appearing by the store's door still holding her pile of books.

"And that child's my team leader~," Blake mused to herself, quickly running across the street and following Ruby through the front door.

The inside of the shop was small, bigger than Tuckson's bookstore in the regards it was longer. Isles lined width ways down the body of the store with walkways running alongside the length on either side.

It was one of these walkways Ruby dashed down, shelves flying by till slamming on the brakes and skidding to a halt at the end.

"G-Gaster?"

The browsing student turned to her with questioning blue and red eyes but no more than with simple curiosity. They quickly lit up a bit at seeing her and the feeling honestly put Ruby off as much as her question to how he travelled over a mile quicker than the airship could.

"Ah Ruby, perfect timing. In your opinion, which would you think is better," holding out the two in hand he ignored the girls' opening mouth in a question to only to be snapped shut as he continued. "A Turquoise brand dust compressor, or a Schnee brand dust compressor? I'm looking towards the Turquoise because of its cheaper price, and that it looks to be of a simple design. But the Schnee brand looks like it could handle more psi, but it's nearly double the price in comparison."

"Ah-eh-Th-the Schnee, brand. The Turquoise don't last as long and have a tendency of breaking after excessive use," she stuttered, a bit of her geeky side leaking out as Blake caught up. "But forget that, how'd you get here? Did you bail on Ooblecks' test or something?"

Gaster's flinch to the question was meek in comparison to how much he wanted to cringe at the very mention of the test before turning back to his choices. He wanted to make it look like he was making his final decision, but really, he didn't want to look the human child in the eye.

His pride was already aching from the thought.

"Hmmm, yes I do see the Schnee brand being the better choice in this situation~. N-no, I finished the test a while a while ago, and yet, I still failed."

Ruby felt her heart sag a little at the tone of his voice while Blake turned away to browse the nearby shelves for dust and kept a cat ear listening from under her bow to the conversation. Ruby knew how it felt to fail a test, so to hear Gasters' dismay was something she could relate to.

"It's okay, we don't always get the best scores on out tests," she tried consoling him, thinking about how she didn't always do well in her tests. Most just barely made it. The best we can do is learn and move forward without hesitation."

"Yes but, I only got ninety-nine out of hundred," the mention of the score caused Ruby to choke back on some air in her throat.

'Ninety-nine?!'

"To think, you choose blasting a nevermores' head clean off over steering it away from the town first and the whole question turns against you. As if I couldn't do both."

'He, he got ninety-nine,' Ruby mulled over dazed as Gaster put the Turquoise compressor back on the shelf and kept the Schnee brand one.

She snapped herself back quick enough to the topic she was wanting to know in the first place.

Enough about that, how'd you get here so quickly? The next airship doesn't arrive in Vale until later."

Gaster looked to Ruby, a little surprised and somewhat confused by the questioning. "Are you asking me how I got to the store in particular, or Vale?"

"Both."

A smile spread across Gaster's lips with a little chuckle behind it.

"My dear girl, isn't it obvious yet~? I've been doing it all this time, so I assumed you'd pick it up by now," he suddenly disappeared right in front of her in a puff of light, shocking Ruby a little and causing her to step back a little. Even Blake was looking over surprised. "I can move between spaces-."

"Aaaarrrghh!"

Ruby screamed at Gaster's voice coming from behind, spinning on the spot and dropping her books right onto Gasters foot. It was a skeletal foot, so while he had a tolerance to pain, a textbook load worth of books slamming down was nothing to scoff at.

"Ah-!"

"Don't do that!"

"Yep. Apologies," he breathed short and sweet trying to hide the pain he was in, bending down and picking up the load carefully.

"Ahg, I'm so sorry," Ruby apologised, collecting herself and bending to help.

"No worries. It's a reasonable reaction."

A staff came running up to Ruby' scream but having been an accident he let her off. Still, for such a little girl she sure could reach quite the pitch.

With the show over, Ruby turned back to asking Gaster, egging him on to answer her question and reveal his secrets. Normally he'd brush a nuisance like her off and teleport away, but there were so many morally wrong things with that the scientist was caught at an impasse.

True he'd dealt with kids before, but he never developed a resistance to their questioning. No matter how much he ignored them they were always right there drawing in attention.

At this point, the only thing keeping him in place was his desire to conduct his little side experiment with humanity.

The three eventually purchased their goods, and Gaster saw fit to finally answer some of Ruby's questions. Granted, he left out a number of details, but it was enough to satisfy the little girl and her friend who so happened to be listening in.

"So, this entire time when you've been late for class, you've not simply snuck in, but teleported in?" Blake queried.

"If it's easier for you to view it that way, then yes. Basically, my form of teleportation is swapping my area in space with another I either recognise, seen or have been. Greater distances need me to put more effort into it while still knowing where I am geographically. Think of it as lifting a stone and carrying it with you. Similar to that, and the volume I'm taking, the heavier the stone becomes."

"That's so cool," Ruby squealed. "Your semblance doesn't just summon skeleton hands with their own abilities, but you can also teleport too. I can't help but think it's some kind of cheat ability."

"Cheat or no Ruby, what I do has been accomplished through rigorous hard work and constant practice," Gaster lectured, raising a finger to the air as though to make a point. "It is something anyone can do. Even you if you try hard enough in all your subjects."

"Wha-I-I do try hard in all my subjects," Ruby stuttered and earning herself an eye from Gaster and Blake at the same time. This was felt cornering, were they ganging up on her in this? "I-it's just, not easy to remember it all."

"Ruby, you've fallen asleep in grimm theory," Blake spoke up.

"Only because the Professor makes it a point to spend half the class telling his stories. They're not even that interesting."

"You forget half the stuff you're taught in history right after you're told about it," Gaster included.

"It takes time for me to process."

"You spend most your afternoons either reading, tending to your scythe or running through the woods after grimm with Yang instead of studying," Blake said before looking a little worried. "I know you're trying hard, but Wiess is probably going to snap again if you don't show her you are."

Ruby was looking all to defeated at this point, her eyes trembling like a child's after they've been scolded from doing something they know they really shouldn't have.

Gaster and Blake exchanged looks of concern. Did they go a little to far in their makeshift pep-talk?

"I, I do try hard~."

Her teammate was about to let her guard down and console her till little red's downcast eyes lit up with an idea as she snapped to Gaster and surprising him with a cheeky line smile on her face.

The skeletal scientist couldn't read minds, no matter how hard he researched. If he could, he'd probably see a malicious play panning out inside the petite girl's mind, not like he couldn't see the intent in her eyes.

"Say Gaster, since we're all on our way back to the academy and everything, do you think you could, maybe, get us all back?" she cooed, in a questioning tone while wearing the adorable eyes of a pleading child. "I mean, if I am to get back, study hard and achieve my goals through _rigorous practice, _then don't I need to be able to get back on time to fit it in?"

Ruby was playing the guilt trip game here, anyone could see that. In fact it was so obvious most people would just cave in if they didn't have enough pride in themselves. Even her dad would fall for it at the drop of a hat.

Unfortunately for her, this was not her dad. On top of having an unbridled amount of pride in everything he did, Gaster was a father and had dealt with this game before.

"No, Ruby, I'm not going to abuse my powers like that and play shofer for you," he deadpanned her. "Relying on me would eventually lead to you becoming complacent in going from place to place. If you want to get back to the academy, it will have to be on your own two feet."

"Says the guy who teleported to get here," Blake spoke up, prompting a smirk and drawing his attention. Did she just play the double agent card on him and switch back to Ruby's side? "Plus, you'd get back to work on your _experiments_."

Gaster glanced down to Ruby with an eyebrow raised. She just smiled back to the silent question in his eyes.

"Well of course she knows about them. Friends are going to talk when they have something to chat about," she chirped, the doctor merely turning back to Blake with a blank expression.

The disguised faunus girl merely looked back wearing the same.

Gaster eventually closed his eyes and gave a sigh of contempt.

"Alright, you've got me there," Ruby gave a sharp '_yes'_ under her breath till being interrupted. "But just this once, and with all this luggage it's going to take a lot out of me. So to manage, I'll be making two trips so I don't strain myself. I am traveling over a dozen kilometres or so after all. "

"Great! We'll let you take everything to our dorm first," Ruby giggled, handing her books and bags over to a Gaster who stumbled at the heavy load suddenly dumping into his arms. He was about to retort till Ruby grabbed Blakes load and piled it on top. "We'll be waiting here for you when you get back."

"And what makes you think I'm coming back? Blake was right in saying I'd like to get back to my work."

The girl's eyes widened with Ruby opening her mouth to speak but couldn't find the words before the two looked to each other in concern.

Gaster just half-heartedly laughed at their reaction.

"Don't worry, I'll be back," he reassured. "This shouldn't take long, though my entry might be a little off."

"A little off?"

"Well I've never been inside your dormitory before as opposed to seeing it through your open door, so expect a commotion of sorts when you get back."

Ruby's eyes lit up at an epiphany and tried to tell Gaster before disappeared in a flash of blue wisps, leaving her with her mouth hanging open. Ruby laughed lightly drawing Blakes' attention.

"I'm sure he'll be fine~," she tried to cheer.

* * *

**Interlude**

Sitting behind her desk, Weiss was reading over some of her math homework in the serenity of her dorm. It wasn't completely quite though, with Yang showering in the bathroom just in the other room.

"Okay, so the anti-derivative of X plus nine over five minus X is equal to the square root of three X minus five X. If this is the case, what is X?" Weiss mulled to herself in her snow-white pyjamas and her hair let down from its usual ponytail. "Let's see, so the first thing to do is find the anti-derivative of-."

A thunderous slam behind interrupted her thoughts with toppling books, a lamp and a yelp of surprise. Spinning out of her chair she came face to a pile of wrapped books, bags of dust and parts sprawled across Yang and Blakes' bunkbeds.

"Really, you girls built bunkbeds?" strained a voice from under the pile at the foot of the lower bunk as someone emerged from it. Gaster stood tall, bending his back straight and welcomed a couple of pops in the spine. "That's a hazard to my health."

Weiss snatched Mistral propped against the wall and charged the intruder without missing a beat. The tip banging against a green barrier before the attack could hit home and seven skeletal hands floated behind him.

"Easy Weiss. I didn't mean to startle you."

"Says the scoundrel who snuck into a girl's bedroom," she hissed, drawing mistral back, spinning the magazine till landing on the white cartridge. Thrusting again a portion of the dust ejected, ignited and everything in front was encased in ice. "The penance for your actions is worse than death!"

Gaster avoided being frozen keeping his shield up to take the blow, but before he could explain the heiress appeared over the frosted wall thrusting at him. He narrowly dodged the strike and using his purple hand of perseverance copied Weiss's aura.

Using her semblance, he created a white glyph above and behind Wiess and flung her up to the ceiling.

"Look, I apologize for entering without your permission, but in all fairness, I was allowed in by R-."

His explanation was cut short by a surprise blow to the jaw that sent Gaster flying across the room and breaking into the wall. The frosted barrier and glyph disappeared at the loss of his concentration as he slumped to the floor upside down and his head angling sharply.

Looking up the doctor saw Yang standing where he had with her fists jabbed out, pumped in her yellow pyjamas and a towel wrapped around her wet hair. Did she just come from the shower?

He noticed her eyes weren't their usual purple, now a crimson red with licking, a clear indication she was using her semblance.

"I was enjoying myself in the shower from a _looong_ afternoon busting grimm head heads in. Then I hear a great big crash that ruined my lovely soak," she declared as Weiss fell, stuck the landing next to Yang and both rearing for another round. "I always knew you were a creeper, but I didn't realize how much of one you were."

"I doubt any explanation from me would help at this point," Gaster assessed, stepping forward still upside down before heaving his back by his legs standing up straight with his head still crooked.

He gripped his head, yanking it back into place with a _cluck_ and made sure his face was still on straight.

Beside Yang cracking her knuckles, Gaster noticed most of the luggage he brought covered in frost or frozen and gave a heartfelt sigh. 'I better hope Ruby and Blake don't blame me for this as much as their teammates.'

* * *

**Interlude**

"I doubt it," Blake faithlessly replied.

To be fair, Ruby was getting the feeling her teammate might be right. She wasn't able to tell Gaster Yang and Wiess were in the dorm room and getting ready for bed.

If he popped in at the wrong moment, it'd be all kinds of trouble.

Skidding tires and revving engines drew their attentions in time for a pair of speeding trucks drifting around the corner ahead of them and barrelling down the street. One veered off the road and made it onto the footpath right for the girls and the few people with them.

wasn't driving straight, like the driver wasn't trying to obey the road rules because the head truck veered off the road and half of it was on the foot path head right for them and the people behind.

The girls quickly understood the severity of the situation, turning to note the few people on the footpath with them.

"Move!"

Not like they needed to be told, people were already slipping themselves down alley cracks and others ran to few of the stores still open.

Feeling that they'd be safe, Ruby took to take care of herself, bolting to the building next to her and pushing up and scrambling to perch herself on a window. She felt herself grimace inside at how 'inelegant' her form was, as Wiess would put it.

Blake in comparison nimby followed and sat perched right next to her with the assistance of her Gambol Shroud.

Why was her baby broken at a time like this?

Her thoughts shattered with the truck blaring below their feet.

"What was that about?"

"Reckless driving?" Blake offered, sounding a little unsure of her own answer watching the trucks slam on the breaks skidding to a halt outside the store the pair had just left.

The rear rolling doors opened up with a slam and a dozen people or so poured out, each armed with either military grade rifles in hand or something a little more for melee. Their wielders certainly didn't look military.

Little under half wore shades, black suits with red ties standing out capped by black bowler hats. The others on the other hand were in white sleeveless jumpers with a tiger head over claw marks on the back and bone white grimm masks over their faces.

"That's the White Fang!" Ruby blurted out in shock as the passenger door to the head truck was kicked open. Hopped out was a ginger haired in white suit, smoking cigar and cane in hand. "Roman Torchwick?"

"All right people you know the drill," he ordered loudly twirling his cane. "Grab as much dust as you can and get ready to move out immediately, I don't want to be here when the boys in blue do so let's get to it. Allen, or Abel, whatever your name is, that's the last time I let you drive. Learn to sober up before a job."

As the goons broke through the front of the store and pilled in with Roman following in, three remained outside standing guard with the trucks.

"We have to stop them," Ruby pulled out her Crescent Rose, ignoring the fact it was broken and readying to leap off the ledge and rush in headfirst to save the day.

Blakes warm hand clutch her shoulder stopped her from launching off.

"You can't do anything Ruby," she stared blankly, looking to her friend with the slightest hint of worry through her golden eyes. "Your Rose's still broken, so you won't be able to defend yourself as effectively if things get messy."

"It's not entirely broken. After all-," she reached and cocked her weapons bolt back, trying to look like a badass despite their current situation. "-it's also a gun."

With a proud look beaming from her team leader, Blake found it in herself let out a sigh after a moment, letting Ruby go before taking out her own weapon in its gun form. "Try not to get into too many close quarter fights. Focus on range as much as you can."

Ruby gave a nod with a little whimper behind it before pushing off and sailing to the ground. Blake broke the head off her Gambol Shroud still connected by a black ribbon and slung it up to the next building over burying into the side.

Blake leaped off and swung by the ribbon, running along the side the wall till unhinging it and lashing out at one of the white fang guards.

She was a little hesitant doing this to the group she once considered family, but as the ribbon of Gambol Shroud snaked around their legs she felt the resolve to go through with it strike though her like lightning. The White fang didn't even have time to react by the ribbon snapping taught at his shins and a pair of shoes to ploughing right into the side of her face.

The remaining two, one in suit and the other another fang member were startled for a moment by their comrade hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes before steeling themselves and raising their guns.

Blake unfurled her ribbon form the shins of the one she kicked just as a bolt of light flicked by her and struck the side of one of the guns busting it out its wielder's hands.

The fang member glanced over past Blakes shoulders to see Ruby taking a knee on the ground with crescent rose nestled on her raised knee for balance as she cocked back and fired another shot. This one heading straight for the same member who easily contorted his body to the side to avoid the bullet before snapping back and charging straight for her.

Blake was about to fling Gambol Shroud again to catch him till her hidden cat ears perked up a click. She leaped to the side in time to dodge a hail of machine gun fire by the third remaining guard in a suit, reclipping her weapon and extend Gambol Shroud back into its sword form.

The white fang member was quickly on to Ruby and managed to evade most of Ruby's static shots to stun the attacker. Through sheer force alone he managed to push past the rest and bringing t down a fist Ruby weaved out the way just as it crashed into the pavement.

She noticed the thick curved horns sticking out from behind the mask and the way he grunted in exertion.

'A bull faunus?'

Ruby noticed Blake had quickly taken care of her guard and was running up to the bull faunus from behind to help.

The little girl in red wasn't the best when it came to brute force without her crescent rose, so if she and Blake wanted to do some damage, they were going to have to play it smart.

"Chopsticks!" Ruby yelled which surprised the white fang.

Blake on the other hand gave a nod, coming in from behind and kicking the faunus's legs in causing him to keel over backwards. Ruby slung her gun around behind her, jumped up and fired a shot propelling her straight towards the faunus with her legs outstretched, pounding the bull faunus directly in the face and Ruby practically surfing the guy to the middle of the streets before he swung an arm catching her legs and tripping her up.

He grinned before realizing Ruby had summersaulted in the air and was now facing him with the barrel of her rifle starring him down at point blank.

Ruby smiled and pulled the trigger firing a stun shot catching him square in the forehead and shocking him almost senseless. Ruby redirected her gun behind her, firing another shot propelling her to pound him in the chest and continue surfing him through the front of 'Dust'n'Parts' windows and _thunking_ to the floor.

"Alright~," she cheered with glee, only quickly dying at noticing the number of people starring at her in the store. She just so happened to land smack near the rear end of the shop with most of the white fang and bowler hat's starring her down. "Ohhh…..~"

"Really, you just fall like that?" Roman complained, coming up from intimidating the cashier handler where the rest of the few customers were being held with a bit of annoyance till seeing Ruby standing on top of the bull faunus, squinting a little trying to recognize her.

His uncovered eye widened a bit before relaxing as a smile grew onto his face. "Oh hello there red, long time no see~. Still carrying that oversized gardening tool, I see."

"Don't think this'll go easy for you Roman," Ruby called, coking back crescent and holding it aloft in its gun form. "I managed to fend you off once before, and I'm ready for round two."

"You mean I _escaped_ before," the crook smirked, taking his cane and motioning a few of them. "Kindly welcome our guest will you. The rest of you, finish loading up the dust. I want us on the road in less than a minute."

Ruby was just about to jump away as a pair of suits and white fang members aimed their weapons at her before the windows broke with a _crash._ Blake came flying through kicking one of the bowlers down till leaping off, grabbing Ruby and ducking behind the rear shelves right as bullets rained down and tearing though their cover.

"You know, you're really a handful for being our team leader," she monotoned, resting against the shelf and checking her magazine.

"It's not that bad, I managed to buy us a little time," Ruby replied with a wry smile, to which Blake frowned towards.

"It seems you've brought a different friend this time," Roman called above the gunfire and tearing metal. "But even with him you couldn't stop me, and not even this one will help!"

Blake glared through the shelf at the crook's words before her golden eyes wondered the cramped isle for a moment.

"We've got to draw this outside."

Ruby hummed a moment, looking around while clocking in a fresh magazine and a bullet flying by a little too close to comfort.

"Come on red, where's that spunk you had before, or are you having an off day~?" Roman called with a chuckle.

Ruby a little annoyed, felt Something knock against Ruby's foot. Looking down was a small jar of black dust, had it rolled from under the isles? Picking it up, she turned it over in hand till reaching the front label and letting a smile out.

'Gravity'.

"Think the store would mind if I made a late purchase?" she joked, earning an eye roll from Blake. "If I shatter this against the ceiling above them, we can use the distraction to push them outside."

Blake thought on the idea for a moment before looking back through the wall at the unseen assailants. "Throw it at the wall instead. We can launch everyone out that way."

"Alright everyone, we're moving out," Romans' voice came again and alarming the girls.

"Should we really leave them alive, boss?"

"Well of course not, but in case you haven't noticed, we're not the most discrete band of criminals in the city right now. Kill them the next time you see them."

"Now or never," Ruby flipped the jar in hand before outright hurling it to the rear wall of the store.

The jar shattered, and a moment past. The dust reacted and a pressurizing force blasted and threw everyone and everything out the store. The few customers hiding with the cashier at the far end were the exception, but Roman and his men were right in the line of fire and as the worlds' gravity turned on all them.

The suits and white fang members sprawled onto the streets by the trucks. The rear roll-up doors were wide open showing they were heavily loaded up with crates of the stores dust.

In such a short time they sure managed to rack up a lot of dust.

Groaning, Roman sat up, rubbing his head a bit till getting back on his feet leaning on his cane with a with the world still somewhat spinning.

"You know, it's so hard finding good help these days~," the ginger sighed, strolling up to the fang and suites who were regaining their own footing. Most readying themselves with their rifles while those who'd lost theirs drew weapons for close quarters. "Most either can't deal with children or have the experience of a common crook in pulling off a heist."

"The White Fang aren't crooks, they're a force of revolution that have just had their cause twisted from the inside," Blake declared with a hint of regret in her voice standing by the shattered windows.

"Oh black~, I may be a human, but even I know that if you want something, you have to be prepared to get your hands dirty to get it," flicking up his cane, the end popped open firing a flare at them.

The girls leaped out the way as the flare slammed to the ground where they were exploding into a fire ball and the armed charged while the rest set out suppressive fire.

Bucking and weaving the two managed to avoid the fire with minimal strikes flaring their auras till the close combatants came in.

Blake landed on her feet quickly met with a sword strike deflecting with her own from one of the suits and using the momentum to swing round behind her attacker to grapple him round the neck. Swinging from him while still holding to his neck to kick another that got close before contorting so she stood on the first's shoulders.

Jumping off and collapsing Gamboul Shroud to shoot a few ranged attackers as she sailed through the air.

Ruby on the other hand didn't have as much mobility as she's used to.

Swiftly dodging a strike and raining fire she burst into petals whizzing up and propping herself atop a nearby streetlight. The glare of the lamp below her feet in the night made it hard for even the keenest eyed of the white fang to see her properly taking aim.

She may be down a scythe, but that didn't make her powerless.

Letting loose shot after shot at the ones stationed by Roman. Most rounds hit home, incapacitating them and even managing to annoy Roman.

"Can't you animals do anything right?" he called as the ones bellow Ruby were quickly taken care of by her partner. Roman flicked his cane and fired a shot at the base of the streetlight, toppling it over and forcing Ruby to jump to another.

Something whizzed at Ruby mid-air, snaked around left arm and snatching her right out the air with a 'yelp'.

Plummeting to the ground and flaring her aura red as Ruby twisted herself to dig her heals in trying to pull back against Romans grapple cane head.

Out the corner of her eye, one of the melee fighters was coming at her with sword raised at her. Ruby rushed Roman, dodging the strike and surprising the thief as the cable suddenly went slack. He quickly regained his footing but not fast enough to evade Ruby's head kick.

Roman's own aura flared as the blow landed, disorientating him a bit and allowing the cable bounding Ruby's arm to loosen and slip right out. Swinging crescent round and firing a shot at point-blank range Roman barely managed to repel with his can's shaft getting blasted back.

The ginger gave a smile smirk as he collected himself and flicked a switch to retract the head of his cane and whiplashed it out before fully retracted attempting to snag Ruby by the ankle.

Already fallen for it once Ruby fired another shot launching her back and out the hooks reach anly to hear someone grunting behind her.

A shot was fired, and Ruby just saw her rear attacker go down with a hole in his leg. Glancing to Blake, she was clutching her katana in its collapsed gun form with a lightly smoking nozzle.

"Pay attention," she called as she slung it back into its katana form to deflect another strike and counter from a white fang melee fighter.

"Thanks."

Turning back to Roman, she just missed an upwards strike and blocked another but was quickly stunned when she found herself staring down the end barrel of Romans cane.

Ruby barely brought her arms up to defend to the flash of a flare firing out and exploded against her arms. Her aura flared, screaming in exhaustion as it protected Ruby from the force throwing her back to her teammate.

Blake barely had time to react herself before she was hit by Ruby's flying body and sprawled the two to the ground.

As they collected themselves, the faint sounds of sirens blaring through the air gradually got louder.

"Welp, I'm afraid that's a wrap. I'd love to stick around a little longer, girls, but I'm afraid we're short on time," Roman boasted, strolling back to the truck with his arms open in a sarcastic 'oh well' gesture. Most of white fang and suits we're helping the injured back to the trucks while others cocked their fire arms aiming at the girls. "And as much as I would love to see you all again on my future heists, I just don't. Our closing act, if you all would please~."

At his word the guns let loose in a gatling fire.

Ruby and Blake sprawled over each other to try and get away from the hail of bullets hammered down against their auras. As they flashed red and black the two could feel their auras rapidly diminishing.

They couldn't move less they lose their concentration at strengthening their body shields and get seriously injured against the constant down-pore.

It didn't take long till the suits and white fang had backed up into the trucks with Roman in the passenger seat of one of them. He slung out the side of the door checking on the situation with a scowl.

Roman flicked up his cane again and fired a flare.

One last touch to blow the two away.

A green bubble suddenly engulfed the pair and the blazing red flare exploded against it and bullets deflected away like rain on an umbrella. The gun fire ceased by the gunners a little confused by just what happened.

To be fair, the girls were also a little clueless, looking around till something clicked inside Ruby.

"Wait, this is….," Ruby stuttered at realizing what they were both in.

"I turn away for five minutes, and already you two are in trouble," on the other side of the street, Gaster came walking from the shadows with his seven hands floating behind him and the green one shining brightest. "Do you always go looking for it, or are you just that unlucky?"

"We would've had better chances if you didn't take so long getting back," Blake criticized, but was silently thankful inside.

"Apologies, Yang and Weiss had a little something to say so I was held up in a tussle."

"Ha ha~, I should've told you," Ruby replied a little sheepishly.

"No need, but I would like the two of you to straighten things out with them when we get back."

As the three continued talking Roman and the others were a little perplexed by the situation.

"What should we do, boss?"

"Oh, I don't know, give them gift baskets?" Roman sarcastically remarked from hanging onto the side of the truck and glaring to driver. "Why do you think you're here? Hit the gas, and rest of you kill them already!"

Roman fired another flare signalling the rest to follow suit in firing with Gaster as an additional target. The bubble surrounding Ruby and Blake morphed and expanded itself becoming a large rectangular panel shielding both them and Gaster.

The hailing bullets all bounced off harmlessly, but when the flare hit and exploded against a harsh crack ran where it'd hit. The girls were shocked, and turning to Gaster they saw his hand of kindness cracked worse than the barrier.

"Don't worry, just a long day is all."

Engines revved and the rolling doors hung open with goons firing and the truck's wheels spun as Gaster raised his hand till Blake gripped his shoulder having been able to stand back on her own legs.

"Don't fire on that truck," she said with a hint of worry in her golden eyes. "It's packed with so much stolen dust it could blow the whole block away."

"Noted," Gaster replied, raising and his light and dark blue hands before slinging tendrils and whizzing energy rings after the speeding trucks.

Flying through the air like buzz saws, the rings sliced along either side of the trucks bursting a few tires and tendrils snaked behind wrapping around and axel and open doors, even a few suits and white fang.

Yanking back as hard as he could, Gaster hopped he could bring the vehicles to halt. To his surprise, the rear axel of one of them ripped itself out from underneath and the truck skidding out of control crashing into a building while the other simply had its doors torn off and a few yanked out along with them.

Despite having burst ties the remaining truck managed to bank a corner with sparks flying and drove out of sight.

"Damn it," irritated, Gaster commanded the still flying rings to bank through the air and trail down the street after the truck. A crash and shattered glass sounded out.

Gaster paused for a moment, then let out a sigh before taking down the barrier with Gaster's own knees wobbling a bit. He wasn't exhausted from any combat he did, but having to teleport from the academy to Vale twice and trying to reason with a couple of enraged girls within such a short span of time took a drain on his magic.

If he wasn't careful, he wouldn't have enough to maintain his face anymore.

"I don't think the dust ignited, we've got to quickly get them before they manage to get away," Ruby called, breaking into a sprint with a slight limp in her step and Blake quickly following behind before soon slowing to a stop. "Gaster, aren't you coming?"

"You two go on, someone's got to take care of these goons," he huffed lightly, reeling back in the patience tendrils from his skeleton hand with a door, axel, two suits and three white fang members on the other end and struggling to unbind themselves.

It was like a mixed batch of fishing.

"Alright, we'll be back as soon as we can!"

They both turned back and ran down in the direction the truck went, Ruby firing a shot from her compact crescent rose and soar high to the roof tops with Blake swinging behind.

Shortly after the girls disappeared, the scientist turned and headed to the side curb, dragging everything along by the tendrils. Some louder than others.

"You piece of shit human, let us go right now!"

"This sure is a weird semblance."

"Hey, don't pull so hard."

"If you don't let go right now, I will make your life a living hell!"

"Please cease your bickering," Gaster sighed, giving a forceful yank from patience and sprawling them against the curb. Bringing out his cracked hand of kindness, he let the tendrils dissipate and created a dome over them, shrinking and bringing them all closer. "If you could even send me back to that living hell, I'd gladly accept it."

Turning to the crashed truck, a glint of a case caught his eyeless socket. Releasing his remaining six hands he teleported to the accident and was intrigued by his findings, or rather the stolen goods.

Cases upon cases were sprawled about in the small space, and a groan indicated someone was buried under all of it. But that didn't concern him, not as much as the cases.

His experiments were so taxing to create a dust core, that he was beginning to run low on usable dust. Now with such a find stretched out in front of him, how could he ignore it? No one was watching, no one would be the wiser if he just took a few.

He stretched out a hand, reaching for the handle of one of the cases.

Afterall, it wasn't like he was in his own world, so the sins of his actions here wouldn't follow him.

Suddenly his eyes widened at the thought and his hand shot by the case handle and buried below the pile. He pulled his hand back and dragged out a half-unconscious faunus.

'What am I thinking, of course those sins would follow me. I'm not someone who lowers himself to petty theft just because it's convenient,' going to the front of the vehicle, he pulled out the driver who was also out cold before taking the two back and laying them next to the other captured crooks. 'I may be in a desperate situation, but I won't abandon my pride. That's the one thing I refuse to abandon. Ever.'

Putting his internal struggle to rest, he sat by the curb with a light sigh, and the peace of the city, ignoring the bad mouthing beside him. The peace was nice, soothing after his time constantly working, looking to the night sky and seeing the stars. Real stars.

When the girls got back, he was going to have to tell them he wasn't going to take them back to the academy on his own, his magic was nearly spent.

Maybe it was for the best, if they considered him for free limo rides rather than a person, his side experiment to be able to handle humans would be completely null and void. He'd probably crack from being used as a tool.

'Wouldn't be the first time I lost my sanity, but I'm pretty sure it'd take me less than half a century to get it back this time around.'

"…ey~.….ey~, hey, Hey! Quit ignoring me, kid!"

"Hmm?"

Glancing over to the green bubble, one of the White Fang members was angrily glaring at him and pounding against the barrier trying to get Gasters' attention. Well, they might be glaring at him, the good doctor really couldn't tell with that grimm mask of theirs on.

"You think you've won this one? You think that this measly victory with you and your friends will stop our revolution? This is just the beginning, human. Soon you will all suffer in aguish, just as we have under your discrimination!"

Despite his boasting, Gaster merely starred at him with a bored expression. Normally he'd get annoyed, but he just felt pity for them. 'Oh this poor fool, so naïve to the meaning of suffering.'

"Yes, by all means, keep raving. For your information, Blake and Ruby aren't really my friends. Associates or test subjects are a better description."

"Wait, did you say Blake? As in Blake Belladonna?"

"And what's it too you?"

A malicious grin grew on his face as a number of the other members turned their attention to the sound of the name. Clearly they either recognised it or were a little curious to what got their colleague interested.

"I thought I recognised her. Tell me human, do you know who you were protecting just then?"

"Of course, Blake Belladonna."

"_tch, _that's not what I… listen human. That girl is an ex-member of our white fang, a disgrace who once held the position as right-hand woman to Adam Toris. Before she abandoned her duty like a coward."

"Yes, yes, I know."

His expression suddenly shattered, the grin the faunus had becoming flabbergasted. "I-E-P-W-G-You knew and you're just okay with that? Why would she tell a human all that while she hides her ears behind that bow?"

"Well she didn't tell me, I found out she was a faunus a while ago, and I thank you for telling me she's an ex-member of the white fang. It now gives me more information to work with in this little social experiment of mine."

"Then hate her, fill yourself with hatred and show her no mercy. Make her pay for all she's done and treat her like a monster!"

"Hmph. If I were to treat her like a monster, I'd say we'd be pretty close friends," he replied with a smile.

The sight of this infuriated the trapped faunus.

"You think this is a joke? You humans have been treating us like forsaken monsters based on our appearance for generations, discriminating us simply because we look different to you all, and you just smile at our pain?" Gaster's smile faded and eyes dying. "We may wear these masks of monsters, but in reality, it's you who are all the horrid monsters. You wish for our dalmatian, but we strive to put you through the hell you've subjugated us to our entire lives-!"

"Shut up!" Gaster yelled, stunning the faunus.

It was so full of hate the white fang member couldn't help but wither a little and his boasting gone in almost an instant. He should be glad to have managed to stir up the hatred he was aiming for, but he felt himself cowering at how much it was directed at him specifically.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! You know nothing of the pain monsters have been put through with so much hatred pitted against us based off fear and you waged war on us. Culling our people before outright sealing us underground for a practical eternity like we were criminals. But you know what, we tried to make it work, we tried to live with what we had. I did the best I could, but it just wasn't enough. We yearned for the sun, the outside, freedom. So if you think you have any right that you're above monsters, think again!"

"Y-You're completely insane," he blurted out. "Are you taking the side of the grimm? You're not making any sense."

Gaster stopped himself at his words. Straightening back up and fixing up his coat to regain his composure with a sharp deep breath through his nose to calm himself.

'Keep calm~, this isn't your reality~. Here, the monsters are grimm and you have no history here~. Don't lose yourself, no matter how many strings this imbecile happens to play.'

"No, I'm not saying I'm siding the grimm. But I myself-," he began, reaching for his hand and sliding away the flesh off to reveal his bone hand below.

The few goons that could see stared wide eyed with a couple flinching and shuffling away best they could. A small hole opened in the barrier before Gaster thrust his hand and grabbed onto the faunus's neck, strangling him through the hole.

" n rse."

"W-what the hell~?" he croaked, fighting against the hand literally choking him in vain. It was a solid grip despite having no flesh and was only getting tighter. Glancing up, the White Fang member froze with his lips trembling in even more terror as he saw the silver haired boy's eyes sink in and lips splitting at the sides of the mouth as though widening into a malicious grin. "H-help me!"

He was panicking, this was no longer the face of a human but death itself!

"**Y****u s****y ****ou w****nt**** p****opl**** to f****r y****u w****il**** y****u w****r t****e**** f****c****s of m****nst****rs? T****en l****rn w****t it ****ean**** to b**** t****at m****ns****r, to r****lly be f****r****d ****nd ****ated to t****e poi****t ****ha****y****'r**** dr****v****n aw****y ****r****m ****ur h****m****, your ****am****y. Or be****er ****et, kn****w w****t it ****e****ns to l****se it all in a s****lit sec****nd. If I ****v****r, find you d****sr****sp****c****ng ****on****t****rs ag****in I ****ill h****nt ****u d****n to the f****rt****est re****ches of the ****oid and tear you to pieces!"**

The faunus's attempt for cries of help and terror were drowned by his own croaking as his windpipes creaked under the strain of the doctor's grip. The blaring of sirens even drowned it out as police cars came screeching around the block.

Gaster let go and shoved his skeletal hand into his pocket then closed the hole in the barrier to leave the unfortunate faunus coughing profusely to regain his breath and rubbing his neck. The doctor did his best to close the splits in his cheeks and fill in his sunken eyes with magic.

He didn't know how effective it was, but at this point he just had to trust if was enough for the moment. The police cars quickly pulled up beside the store and officers piled out.

* * *

**Later**

"You don't have enough energy to get us all home?"

"Yes Ruby," Gaster sighed as the small girl in the red dress continued pestering him. "I told you before, it was exhausting enough taking all that stuff back to your dorms, and believe me I would've been able to come back and make the next trip with you two. But there was a little issue with your sister, Weiss and the whole fiasco with the Torchwick draining a good portion of what I had left. I haven't had nearly enough time or supplements to replenish my energy."

The night was late, and the trio had just left the police station.

Unfortunately, Ruby and Blake weren't able to find Roman, leaving him on the run again with the entirety of their truck's contents. Authorities had brought them in for questioning, and Ruby found herself lucky headmaster Ozpin and Glynda didn't come down to scold her again.

She could only handle so much from the blonde witch in a day before she found her own self esteem take some damage.

Little did she know, the only reason Glynda didn't come racing down and burst into a rage in front of the little girl was because Gaster managed to reason with her over the phone. Granted, he ended up facing a little punishment since this happened under his supervision to an extent.

'She really takes her job seriously. I should give a little more credit for her dedication.'

"Ahhh, Weiss is going to chew me out for this~…"

"Cheer up, I'm sure it won't be that bad."

"I wouldn't be so confident," Blake spoke up after remaining silent since their departure. "She tends to be a stickler for time."

"Really~? _Hm~, _that reminds me of an old friend. She wasn't always on time, actually she rarely ever was. But she always let it bother her, no matter how much I said it was alright."

"That sounds nothing like Weiss."

"No, but even my friend got a bit stingy when I arrived late," a playful smirk spread across Gasters lips at remembering how Alphys always told him off after arriving late to the laboratory from having to make sure Sans and Papyrus were in good care before he left.

It was tough raising those boys alone as a single father. He even found Papyrus when he was younger stuck in the biscuit jar and Sans was trying to get him out without hurting his younger brother.

Troubles like those were many, but to him, those memories were worth their weight in gold.

"I can imagine people telling you off for being late, you're always so engrossed in those machines of yours you've turned up late to nearly every lesson so far."

"I take pride in my work, and I have no intentions of slowing down."

"Even if Mrs Goodwitch tells you off?"

"Even if she scowls at me while staring daggers into my very soul~."

"_Grugh~_. You've got nerves Gaster, I think I've whimpered nearly every time she's given me at least a glare. "

"Haha, believe it or not I know people far scarier than her. One who cared for everyone, but when she was angry, not even her husband could escape."

"You sure know a lot of people from where you come from. Are they close by? I'm sure it would be nice to meet them."

Gaster's smile faltered, turning to the skies ahead with weary eyes. "That's not going to happen anytime soon I'm afraid. They're…gone."

Recognising his expression, Ruby's own previous happy mood also dropped a bit. Gaster's response, his tone, his words. They were, of lose.

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring out bad memories," she saw that her response wasn't lightening the mood, and while he did bring a soft smile, it was still one of sadness. "H-how did they…..go, was it grimm?"

Gaster solemnly shook his head.

"No, it was something, someone I never considered. Before I joined the academy, I had….a position in a technology institution of sorts. One day I left on a little business trip, but when I returned, one of the people I considered part of my family had brutally massacred everyone. Everyone I knew, loved, worked and lived with." Ruby's face had gone to grim shock at everything he was saying, but Gaster continued. "When I cornered her, I demanded an explanation. She just…..smiled, happily before destroying everything around us."

Gaster's story wasn't a complete lie, just minor details bent here and there. Though everything else, the feelings given were more than genuine.

Both Blake and Ruby were still left speechless in the passing silence.

"I-if it makes any difference, I lost my mum when I was a child. She was a huntress, so the danger kind of came with the territory. One day she went out on a mission, but never came back. It was hard, trying to understand it all when you're that young and my dad really had it rough raising Yang and me on his own. I, didn't really get to know my mum…."

Ruby had aimed to lighten the mood with a relatable topic between the two of them, but now she was the one feeling sad.

Her nose twitched in threat of a sniffle when a hand warmly clasp her left shoulder. Turning she found Blake of all people trying to comfort her with the wry smile.

"Try not to get too emotional on your own words. The team leader needs to set some examples for the rest of us to follow."

Ruby sniffled, whipping away a tear form her silver eye and took a deep breath with a face of renowned resolve. "Right, as leader of team RWBY, I'll do my best and remain positive!" she boasted, throwing a punch to the air.

Blakes' hand left its place on her shoulder, another much colder pattered her head. But even cold, it had a kindness to it as she looked to her right where Gaster was taking advantage of his greater height over her to pat her with a smile. His previous downcast expression still somewhat lingering in his eyes, but calmly ruffled her dark red hair all the same like the child she was.

Who did he think he was, a dad consoling his child? Probably.

"We can't all expect to keep a straight face at times, but it's those when we show our sentimental sides people have the opportunity to become closer as friends."

"Words from experience?"

"Yes, but I'm not the one to show their sentimental side."

The trio continued through the empty streets of Vale towards the airship station.

By the time they arrived, they'd just made it in time for the last flight of the night. Any later and they'd either be forced to rent a hotel or wait for Gaster's power to be strong enough to take them all to the academy.

Not like it wasn't, he just didn't want to make it known. He would've missed a perfect social experiment with the two otherwise.

Soon they were sailing through the night skies, the river of city lights growing smaller with each passing moment away from Vale. At one point, Ruby had to go the restroom quickly, leaving Blake and Gaster alone on the main deck with the sparkling sky stretching outside the wide window before them.

The mood was a little quiet to say the least.

"You know, you should really be more careful when fighting so close to the White Fang. A few might end up recognising you and try blurting it out to everyone," Gaster spoke up, not turning from the view.

Blakes' eyes shot wide and snapped to him, taking a step back and subconsciously reaching for her katana. "T-they told you?"

"If it's any consolation, I've known about your faunus traits for a while now, you don't see too many people wearing bows on their heads that twitch to subtle noises. But yes, they told me a little about you."

Blake took her hand away from her katana and instead reach to her hidden cat ears while still glaring at Gaster for a few moments who kept his gaze out the window. It didn't take long till she relaxed a little, not wanting to fully let her guard down and looked out the window with him.

"I thought I could leave that life behind me, start a new and make more of a difference between the humans and faunus as a huntress than the White Fang could. Less violence, less killing and more talking to them, to have differences mean nothing. Guess it was naive of me to think that."

"It was. Thinking you were ever safe from the sins of your past is always a naïve and childish way to live."

"Well aren't you the shoulder to cry on."

"I take that as a compliment. Ignoring the facts of reality is no different than living a life behind closed doors, or as you kids would put it, with your head buried in the sand. But you already knew that, didn't you? The White Fang have been around for a long time, and you were one of their earliest members, so you must've recognised the discrimination of the world. That is both a mature and determined way of thinking."

Blake wanted to respond, but she couldn't think of the right words to say on the spot. The glimmering lights of Beacon Academy slowly loomed into view.

"So now you know, are you going to tell everyone about my secret? The quiet bookworm Blake Belladonna everyone thought they knew is actually an ex-terrorist~. I can already imagine their expressions."

"I didn't bring this up to black mail you or tell everyone. I'm merely saying when you confront your past, just be mindful of what might slip through the cracks. You're not wearing that bow simply out of fashion and when you feel it's time to tell everyone the truth, I have no doubt they'll won't think of you any differently than now."

"Now look who's childish and naïve."

"Touché."

* * *

**Later**

Making land and welcomed by the grand scale of the academy, the three eventually found themselves passing through the crisp white halls of the dormitory building with the occasional flowerpot on a stand as decoration.

It didn't take long till they were standing in front of RWBY's room and Gaster wishing them good night and good luck with Weiss and Yang, adding he never fired a shot.

Before either girl could ask why he teleported in a flash of blue wisps.

"I know he can do that whenever, but I have a feeling it's going to get on my nerves when he does that to leave a conversation in the future," Ruby peaked up as Blake went for the door.

When the pair entered they froze to a waft of cold air meeting them and the shear desolation.

Their once tidy room, built with totally not hazardous bunkbeds now a complete warzone.

Three beds were upturned on each other with bookshelves charred and partially broken. Gaping holes into the interior dotted the walls and ceiling with large patches of frost and melting icicles. The wide window once covered by stitched curtains from a totally not scythe related accident shattered with the curtains burnt and covered in frost.

Wiess and Yang stood mid-cleaning the room to the sound of the door to where their teammates stood looking over the room with jaws threatening to drop.

"What the hell happened here?!" Ruby practically screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Oh, nothing Rubes, just an attempt to squash a creeper," Yang replied with attempted glee.

"That man has no sense of decency, barging into a girl's room without knocking," Weiss added.

"Wait, Gaster did all this? He said it was a tussle and that he didn't fire a shot, but it looks like an all-out war in here."

"He told you? Is he here? I'm going to teach that insolent proper manners," Weiss declared, snatching mistral from a desk it'd been lying on and marching for the door.

"Wait, wait, we were the ones who gave him permission to come into our dorm so he could drop off some things we bought," Ruby pleaded, raising her hands in attempt to prevent the potential destruction of the dormitory building out of a misunderstanding.

"You gave him permission to come in?"

Ruby was feeling the pressure and coldness of Wiess's gaze.

"We both did," Blake spoke up, practically throwing her friend a life rope in the situation as she nodded in agreement so fast to get it over with her head became a blur.

The heiress sharply breathed in gripping the ridge of her nose.

"He really was telling the truth," she breathed, turning to Yang who also began mellowing out a little at the news before rubbing the back of her head a little sheepishly.

"Ahh, this is embarrassing…~"

'Crisis averted~,' Ruby sighed to herself in relief.

"So, how much of this was Gaster's doing?" Blake queried, heading for the bookshelf and inspecting the books that had frost on them. The damage wasn't bad, ice mildly only on the spine's, but if melted could ruin the pages.

"W-well~..….none of it," Yang replied. "We sort of lost it and struck out while he kept avoiding us trying to talk to us."

"That sounds about right-wait, where's my bed?" Ruby counted the beds again and noticed both it and the sheets she'd hung over it were both missing.

Eyes widened to sauces as Weiss and Yang looked to each other before looking back. A twitching smile creeping itself onto her lips and pointing towards the broken window. Ruby bolted for the edge and looked out to the grounds below.

"It was, kind of an accident. Sorry Ruby," Yang apologized, resting a hand on her shocked little sisters' shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can get you a new one."

"…..Yang, where am I supposed to sleep tonight?"

* * *

**Interlude**

Just down the hall at a far end room, Gaster sat by his desk, tightening screws on a new prototype for his dust core. All the while thinking over the events of the evening.

He didn't find it unpleasant, quite the contrary actually. The whole reason why he still attended this huntsman academy was to get a clear understanding between human and faunus so he could apply it to his own reality. That, and to have a stable base of operations.

Ozpins little proposal might've been spur of the moment in a way, and hastened, but it most definitely held some merit and was beginning to show.

"Discrimination all comes right back round to just fear in another form," he mused to himself, thinking of his little 'conversation' with the White Fang member he had. "I wonder, is all we're missing from my world is a simple human to act in our defence?"

Setting down the screwdriver he held, he sat back to look over the machine in the works. It was still box-like in an overall shape, only this time it had rings to rotate in opposing directions both horizontally and vertically in the middle of it where the void point would be created. If you were to look at it from a certain angle, it'd look like a plus.

"…Frisk. She didn't seem to be ill willed, even made friends with the monsters at one point. If it weren't for Chara, she could've been that human we'd need to act as that defence."

Getting up, he paced around paper notes strewn on the floor over to a crate in the corner of the room where he kept his dust resources.

"If we could save both of them, instead of eliminating them, maybe we could save everyone," popping the box open, he rummaged through empty packets and jars till he found a red dust packet. Taking it out, he grimaced to how much was left. "But that would mean nothing if I can't even get out of this timeline."

Pacing back to his desk and setting the packet down, he stood back to stare at it in thought.

"I wonder, can I replicate the dust formula with what I have?"

* * *

**There we go, this was my first attempt at making a conversation in WingDings while still being able to be understood. **

**If any of you have a bit of trouble understanding it, this is what it translated too;**

**You say you want people to fear you while you wear the faces of monsters? Then learn what it means to be that monster, to really be feared and hated to the point that you're driven away from your home, your family. Or better yet, know what it means to lose it all in a split second of your life. If I ever, find you disrespecting monsters again I will hunt you down to the furthest reaches of the void and tear you to pieces!**

**If there was a little trouble with that, let me know. I'd love to improve on it before it becomes much of a problem.**


End file.
